


Proof That Tony Stark Can Have A Family

by danidaze



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Bed-Wetting, Child Abuse, F/M, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Foster Care, Innocent Tony, Kid Avengers, Kid Tony, M/M, Multi, Nightmares, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Clint Barton, Protective Phil Coulson, Team as Family, Tony-centric
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-10
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2020-06-25 17:34:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 39,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19750495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/danidaze/pseuds/danidaze
Summary: In which Tony Stark has everything until he doesn't. And just when things seem to be at their worst, life comes and throws him in a blender. But maybe, just maybe, he can push through to find a little bit hope. To find a little bit of a family.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> sooo this is my first fic. it may suck, it may not. who cares. just don't judge too harsh.
> 
> this is a total AU.
> 
> ages and names to keep in mind for now:  
> Clint (Dad) Phil (Papa)  
> Tony - 8  
> Bucky - 14  
> Steve - 14  
> Thor - 17

Tony Stark was born into the best life imaginable. He had a trust fund so large it could easily last three generations without putting any spending stipulations in place. He was set to be the heir of a will be multi-billion dollar company before he was even born. And just about everything in his life was ready to be directly handed to him whether he decided to put in any effort or not. But with all the good, life has to give some bad. So sure he may have everything available at the snap of his fingers, but that everything does not include his parents.

Howard Stark. Scientist. Engineer. Founder of Stark Industries. A man from a humble background who was able to take over the world with his intellect as well as machinery. Through his accomplishments, however, parenting did not make the top 100 on a good day. From constant hours in the lab or traveling to show off his life work, it seemed that his actual baby offspring was nothing in comparison to the baby he spent every waking moment perfecting. Maria Stark, his wife of whom he cherished, tried to take on the role of both parents, but with needing to keep up publicity with her husband she also seemed to fall short on winning Mother of the Year.

All in all, though, Howard and Maria loved Tony and would do anything and everything for him.

Except all chances of being able to do everything for him were thrown out the window when they were killed in a car crash just before Tony’s 7th birthday.

The day the news broke of the Stark’s death, the world mourned. They mourned over the man who provided their country with security, but also for the young, brilliant mind that was barely able to scratch the surface of his potential. Tony mourned more personally. He mourned for the missed hugs and kisses. He mourned over the idea of no longer waking up on Sunday mornings to find his parents home from their business trip. But most importantly he mourned over the thought that he wasn’t in the car with his parents because now he’s all alone. 

However, he wasn’t totally alone. Howard and Maria would not go out of the world without knowing that Tony would be safe, hence why just mere hours after finding out about his parent’s death Tony finds himself settling down into his Uncle Obadiah’s house. Tony’s known the man from as far back as he can remember even though he’s never actually talked to the man. Sure he’s been to his house for Christmas parties and he’s sat by his shoes under his dad’s lab table, but he’s never  _ actually _ spoken to him like he knows most kids do with their uncles. One thing Tony was certain about though was the fact that his parents wanted nothing but the best for their child, so he knew he’d be fine living with Obadiah Stane...even if the man did look a bit mean and made him feel on edge. This was something Tony was certain about.

Except he shouldn’t have been so certain.

* * *

The boy was living with his uncle– in his own home as per his parent’s request in their will– for just over two months when things started to change. No longer was Tony able to go down to the labs to sit around or look at Obadiah’s latest creations, and when he did step foot into the lab he should expect to be yelled at. Then there was the times Obadiah would have guests over. Tony was expected to stay quiet in his room, however, sometimes he got hungry or bored and would venture out which would result in more yelling from his uncle. The yelling only lasted a couple of months, though, because soon enough the slaps started. And then slaps turned to hits. And hits turned to punches. And don’t forget about the constant verbal berating he would receive on the daily for doing absolutely nothing.

Yup, Tony was born into the best life imaginable, however, within under a year one could say he was living in an absolute nightmare. 

It was now a random Wednesday a couple months shy of the two year anniversary of his parent’s death, and Tony had to make his way down to the lab to get Obadiah because he had guest at the door. He knows he had clear instructions not to enter today, however, he assumed this would be the one exception.

He assumed wrong.

“ _ What _ did I tell you?!” Obadiah shouted as the boy approached him.

“But you have-” Tony started to say only to be cut off as he was pushed onto the ground.

“I said  _ do not _ come down here. Under no circumstances! But you can’t listen, you never listen! God, your father used to always say  _ he’s a genius, gonna be the greatest boy wonder _ but you know what I don’t see it. All I see is some pathetic,  _ stupid _ kid who cries over a dropped pen and will never amount to anything.”

Only thing is Tony can only hear bits and pieces of this because the entire time his “uncle” is shouting he is only kicking the young boy. In the ribs. The head. Arms. Legs. Back. Everywhere. Tony is trying to curl in on himself to protect his stomach and head, however, his attempts are futile and potentially could just be causing him more harm than good.

One thing Tony has begun to pride himself in since the abuse started, however, is how he’s learned to control his pleads. For the most part he can go an entire beating without shouting out once. There are the occasional ones, though, that are just too much for him. This beating being one of those cases. In what he would say is his defense he was keeping up a strong front all until he had his elbow stepped on as he heard the crunch. The boy kicked out and screamed in pain just as he felt the same searing pain go through his ankle. Before he could scream though he received one last blow to the head in which would end up knocking him completely out.

* * *

Tony doesn’t know how long he was out or how bad his injuries were, but all he knows is that when he finally opens his eyes he is no longer in the basement of his home. Instead he is in the back of an ambulance with a paramedic frantically assessing his injuries while also trying to get the boy to hear him. In a distant manner Tony can hear the man, but everything is too fuzzy to form an actual response so he just looks at the man in confusion but also semi-alertness. The paramedic smiles as he continues to treat some of the boy’s more manageable injuries when Tony feels a light squeeze on his hand. As he turns, he feels the corners of his lips twist into the smallest of smiles as he lays eyes on the one stable person in his life. Jarvis. The elderly man has tears in his eyes as he kisses the boy’s hand.

“I love you,” Tony hopes his whispers in an audible way.

“I love you, too, little sir,” Jarvis replies just as they pull into the hospital.

* * *

Tony must have passed out again at one or another because one moment he remembers being rushed into the ER and the next he’s waking up in what he can only assume is a recovery room on the pediatric floor based on the cartoon drawings covering the walls– Tony’s room theme being pirate themed based on the ships and marine life surrounding him. As confused as Tony was about the entire day, his fear seemed to consume him even more because aside from the machines constant beeping and the small chattering coming from outside his door, all Tony can hear is his own crying. Before he can think to do anything, however, a doctor, nurse, and one other lady enter into his room and immediately frown at the site.

“Hey, champ, it’s alright. I know you’ve had a rough day, but there’s no need to be scared,” the female doctor says as she gently approaches the boy’s bed. “I’m Dr. Serra, do you remember me from when you came in?”

Tony can’t tell if the tears have stopped or if he’s just calmed down enough to not be sobbing anymore, but he manages to shake his head ever so slightly.

“That’s alright, it was quite crazy when you first got in. I was the doctor that had to treat your injuries, and I had to perform surgery on you as well,” Dr. Serra states gently. “You were not looking too good when you first came in, do you know what happened?”   
“I-I got hurt,” Tony mumbles because one thing he has not forgotten from his parents was that adults should be treated with respect and verbal responses was more respectful than head gestures.

“Yeah you did, bud, quite a bit, too. We had to place a couple of pins in your ankle to reset the bones. Your right arm need to be reset as well, though, that didn’t require pins. And then we’ve got some broken ribs, major internal bruising, and a welt on the side of your head that I’m not too thrilled about,” the doctor listed off with a frown on her face.

“I’m sorry,” Tony says a bit louder this time.

“There’s no need to be sorry, you didn’t do this, but I’d actually like to know who did. See that lady back there next to Nurse Lou?” She asks as she gestures to the woman dressed in a flowery blouse. “She’s a social worker, and she wants to ask you a couple of questions. Would you mind if she did that?”

This time Tony can’t get himself to verbally answer, but instead nods his head. The doctor as well as social worker smile as the two trade places.

“Hi Tony, my names Carli, it’s nice to meet you,” Carli smiles as she sticks her hand out for Tony to shake which he hesitantly does. “Like Dr. Serra said, I just have a few questions for you to see how you got all these ouchies, okay?”

Once Tony nods the questions begin. At first they’re easy. They start with his name, birthday, parents, guardians, school, and so forth to get the background. However, then things get more personal and the boy can’t help but wring his hands around in a nervous manner.

“Tony, who was down in the lab with you when you got hurt?” Carli asks.

“Obadiah,” the boy is able to answer after a minute or so.

“And was he the one that hurt you?”

“Y-yeah, but it’s okay- it’s okay. I deserved it,” Tony rushes out.

“No sweetie, you didn’t. You were seriously hurt, and no one deserves to be hurt like you were. Was this the first time Mr. Stane has hit you?”

“Are you going to take me away from him?”   
“Tony-” Carli starts only to be cut off.

“I won’t answer any more questions ‘till you answer mine,” Tony states firmly.

“Well I guess that’s a fair enough request,” Carli states as she puts down her pen for a moment. “Mr. Stane’s guardianship has already been revoked, Tony, so yes you are going to be taken away from him. But it’s okay. We have a very nice family lined up who’s ready and excited to bring you in.”

For a couple of moments the room is absolutely silent. Tony doesn’t know if he should cry more or rejoice because his parents chose for him to stay with Obadiah. They wanted him with him. But they also wanted Tony safe, and he was not safe there. The boy has too many conflicting thoughts going on in his head that he doesn’t even register himself answering Carli’s question of  _ no this was not the first time he was beaten _ . 

The questions wrap up fairly quickly from there and then Tony is left alone in the room after the nurse and doctor did one final look over.

* * *

As Tony once again finds himself waking up in a daze, he can’t tell if it’s late at night or the next morning. What he does know is that there’s a couple people talking at his door as well as the fact that he is in some excruciating pain. So much that he’s not able to hold in the whimper which alerts all four adults standing by his door.

“Oh, Tony, morning, bud. Are you in pain? I think it’s about time we give you your new pain med dosage,” Dr. Serra coos as she approaches the boy.

Following her also brings Carli into the room along with two men that Tony does not recognize. Tony doesn’t answer the doctor as he whimpers again which causes the two men to coo yet also frown as they lean over to ask something of Carli.

“I know, I know, babe, it should kick in soon,” the doctor coos as she watches Tony’s face turn to relief. “There we go, morning, bud, sleep well?”

“D-don’t remember it,” Tony mumbles as he tries to think back on his dream because he was expecting one of his usual nightmares.

“You were on some pretty heavy pain medication last night, so that’s not surprising, don’t worry,” She says with a smile before looking to Carli. “Shall I leave you to it?”

“Yeah, sounds good,” Carli says with a smile as she walks closer to Tony. “Tony, remember how I said I already had a family for you? Well, I’d like you to meet Clint and Phil. They’re going to be taking you in for awhile.”

The two men smile and wave at the boy as Tony is able to get a closer look at them. The Phil man is dressed in entire similar to what he always remembered his father wearing, whereas Clint was dressed more casually. Both however looked very nice and even caring if that is something one is able to express through a mere glance over.

“Hi, bud, it’s nice to finally meet you. I feel like you’ve all we’ve been hearing about these past few days,” Clint says as he takes a step closer.

“S’nice to meet you,” Tony mumbles as his hands cover his mouth a bit.

“Now Tony, we need to monitor you another 24 hours but then you’re gonna go home with these guys. I’ll be coming to visit a couple times to make sure you’re settling in and I may be here at the hospital when you come for evaluations, but I promise everything will be alright. Are you okay?” Carli asks and once again Tony only nods.

The adults in the room talk a bit more amongst themselves and Tony can only bring himself to half pay attention. He half dozes off and half allows his eyes to wander around the room, pausing momentarily when he glances over Phil or Clint as the men send him a small wave and smile.

* * *

Those next 24 hours seems to zoom by just at the first 48 hours did, and soon enough Tony finds himself being wheeled out to an awaiting car. Tony allows Phil to lift him into the car as Clint folds up the wheelchair and places it in the trunk along with a set of crutches which will not be able to be used for quite a bit of time. The boy gets a final glance at his doctor and social worker before Clint is pulling out of the hospital and onto the road.

“Alright, so bud, we live a pretty distance away from the city, so make yourself comfy back there. Let us know if you get hungry or need to go potty at all, and we’ll stop, alright?” Phil asks the boy who immediately nods. “Also let us know if you’re starting to feel dizzy. We’ll crank up the air or pull over. Whatever needs to be done. You can nap for a bit if you want.”

“M’not too tired,” Tony mumbles as he looks around the car while also tugging at the seat belt that is digging into his neck.

“Is the seat belt bothering you, hun?” Clint asks as he notices the squirming in the backseat.

“A little,” Tony whispers but stops squirming in case the men find it to be annoying.

“Do we still have the boys’ booster seat? Or maybe we should get a carseat?” Phil says as he looks back to examine Tony a bit further.   
I don’t- I don’t need a carseat,” Tony mumbles as he finds himself once again twisting his hands.

“S’not a bad thing, bud,” Phil coos with a smile. “When you drive around are you normally just in the seat like that or do you sit on something? I need you to be honest.”

“Had a booster seat, just passed the carseat regulations rule.”

“Thank you for being honest, bud, I appreciate that,” Phil smiles as he turns back to his husband. “I think we may have given the booster to Nat and Bruce for Rhodey back when Bucky grew out of it, but I don’t think he uses it anymore.”   
“Yeah that sounds good. We can go one drive without proper safety devices,” Clint replies as he smiles back at the boy.

For the most part from there the rest of the car ride is pretty quiet. Clint has put on an old rock station and occasionally they would hear Tony mumble the words, but aside from that it was a peaceful ride. As they made it onto the farm property, though, they finally took the time to inform the boy a little bit about their family.

“So we’ve got three other boys,” Phil says, rolling his eyes as Clint calls them Tasmanian devils. “There’s James who’s 14, but don’t call him James. He goes by Bucky, and has claimed me and Clint are the only ones who can call him James. He’s a bit quiet at first and does give off an initial hard stare, but he’s very sweet. Then we have Steve who is also 14. He is also very friendly, but he does have a short temper at times so if he says anything mean just let us know and know he doesn’t mean it. And finally we have Donald who’s 17, but like Bucky do not call him Donald. I think his football stardom has gone to his head because he to refer to himself as anything other than Thor. We don’t get it either, but we’ve chosen not to question it. And, though, he’s a jock he’s the biggest teddy bear of all the boys.”

Just as Phil finished introducing the boys they pulled up to the farm house which Tony looks at with wide eyes having never seen so much greenery. The only thing that’s able to shake him from his trance is Clint opening his door with his wheelchair popped open in front as he gives the boy a soft smile.

“Ready?” Clint asks as he extends his arms forward to help the boy.

Rather than replying though, Tony just leans into the arms as he’s lifted out and placed into the seat which he will become very familiar with. The lift up the steps and walk to the door comes quicker than Tony expected and soon enough he’s being wheeled into the house in which he can only describe as “homey”. He hears Phil shout that they’re home before a small heard of feet begin to approach the front door area.

“Boys, meet Tony. Tony, meet the boys!”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> settling in is hard. fitting in is harder.

Tony wasn’t sure what to expect when he arrived. Would he receive glaring eyes for infiltrating this already tight knit family? Or would he be shown a more sympathetic side like he got from the two parental figures? What he did receive, though, was one set of blank eyes, one set of curious ones, and another set of joyful ones.

“Welcome to the humble abode, tiny one,” the eldest of the boys was first to speak, eyes lighting up further as he began to approach the boy. “I’m Thor, it’s very nice to meet you.”

Tony stares at the extended hand before gently reaching out to shake it.

“I’m Steve, that’s Bucky. Don’t expect a show from us like you got from Thor,” Steve says in an indifferent manner as he looks to his fathers. “We don’t have to do a bonding thing, right? Me and Bucky were gonna go out back to toss around the baseball.”

Phil gives the boy an  _ are you serious _ type of face whereas Clint rolls his eyes, but nonetheless sends the boys off to do what they want– Thor joining them in leaving to go meet up with some friends for a bit.

“Sorry for the lack of a warm welcome, bud, they’re experiencing some PDA today it seems,” Clint chuckles before noticing both Tony’s and Phil’s confused expressions. “Puberty driven attitude? What you don’t know that one?”

“Anyways,” Phil says, now also chuckling. “I think we should show you around the house and also go over some rules before anything else. After that if you wanna go down for a nap or you just wanna relax you can, whatever you wanna do. Alright?”

Rather than replying, though, Tony just nods as he looks upward to the men with wide eyes. They start off downstairs where they’re able to just wheel Tony room to room. They show him the living room where for the most part TV is first come, first served but on certain nights shows or sports games are allowed to be “reserved”. Then they make their way past the dining room and into the kitchen. Here he’s told he’s allowed to have whatever snacks he wants– unless labeled Thor because he may lose a finger– but if it’s something that requires to be heated up or it’s too high than he needs to get either Phil, Clint, or Thor. They briefly show the boy Clint’s office which is off limits when a sign is placed on the door and when the sign is not there he needs to knock before entering. Before finally they end up in their “rec room” which houses a massive bookshelf, a naturally well-lit table, board games, dart board, and ring toss game.

“Alright, kiddo, do you mind if I carry you on our next point of the tour?” Clint asks as they approach the upward stairs to where Tony assumes the bedrooms are.

After receiving a small nod, Clint lifts the boy gently making sure that his arm, ankle, and ribs are all still comfortable. The men point out the bathroom of which he’s told he’ll mainly share with Thor when it comes to showers and such seeing as Steve and Bucky have a bathroom within their room due to them sharing a space, but others use it as well when theirs are occupied. The men point out each boys bedroom, making a note to more firmly point out their room, before they make it to the last door at the end of the hall.

“And this is your space, Tony. Pretty simple as of now, but once you’re feeling better and have a bit more mobility we can go into town to get some things to decorate with. Sound good?” Phil says as he allows his husband and new foster son into the room.

Tony glances around the room with delicate eyes. His room back home was most definitely larger, but for some reason Tony enjoyed this space so much more. The room wasn’t overpacked with things, but things also weren’t overly spread out where it felt empty. It was just nice.

“Thank you, I like it,” Tony mumbles as he subconsciously finds his head falling onto Clint’s shoulder.

“Alright, we’ve got one more area in the basement we can show you, but I think you’re starting to feel a bit tired so how about we do rules and then we can look at that later tonight?” Clint coos to the boy already making his way downstairs and onto the couch in the living room.

“So Tones, we don’t have too many rules, but the ones we have we take very seriously,” Phil says as he looks at the young boy with a serious expression. “One reason we chose to live on a farm was because we wanted all our kids to have a large space to run around because Clint and I love the outdoors. With that being said, you’re allowed to go outside whenever you want, however, you need to tell Clint or myself before doing so. We may tell you to stay in a certain line of site, but other than that it’s your own kingdom back there. I know this is a bit weird considering you’re limited on physical activity right now, but eventually, yeah?”

“I understand,” Tony says seriously.

“Alright, well we have family dinners every night at 7:00, so that means you need to be inside by then also. Family dinner is a mandatory attendance unless otherwise excused. For these first couple of weeks we may be a bit more picky on how much you eat, but that’s just because your doctor informed us you’re a bit underweight,” Phil continued, though what he really wanted to say was the boy was  _ seriously _ underweight. 

Tony nods again.

“We also need you to come to us if you’re ever scared, in pain, or just otherwise uncomfortable. We know it’s hard moving into a new surrounding with so many faces, so we just want to make sure you’re settling alright,” Clint says this time, gaging the boy for a reaction. “Alongside this, we also have everyone in the family attend therapy sessions. How often you go depends on the doctors thoughts, but there’s nothing wrong with needing less or more help. All our boys go, some multiple times a week, and we just want you to have a source to talk to that isn’t the one in charge of if you get dessert or not.”

At the teasing comment Tony smiles a little bit, though he still maintains a small look of confusion.

“Is- is that an always thing?” Tony asks.

“If you don’t like it, no, but between you and me all of the boys asked the same question and here we are 11 years later with Thor and he’s never missed a session. It’s just a nice destressor sometimes,” Clint explains. “Alright now, bud, do you have a phone?”

“N-no but I have a tablet,” Tony mumbles, scared they may take it away.

“Hey, it’s alright, we’re not gonna take your tablet,” Phil comforts as he notices the boys conflicted expression at his admittance. “We just want to put some stipulations in place for it. We like to trust that you know what is and isn’t appropriate to look up, so we will not be monitoring your search history or any texts you may send out. However, we ask that you allow us to put in a time-limiting device which would lock the device at the time of your bedtime. That and we wanna have a monitor when it comes to downloading certain apps.”

“That sounds okay. I don’t know where it is exactly, somewhere in my bag.”

“We’ll find it later don’t worry. For now here are the simpler rules: Bedtime for you, little mister, is gonna be 8:45 except on the weekends when we’re pretty lenient. We also follow the  _ you make the mess, you pick it up _ rule. We have a very nice lady come clean the house once a week, but we ask you still try to be tidy around the common spaces and your own room.”

“Got it,” Tony mumbles as he yawns into his hand.

“Alright, I think that’s enough for now, how about you nap on the couch for a bit? I’ll wake you up for dinner when it’s ready,” Clint says as he helps the boy lay down and drapes a blanket on top of it. “Sleep well, sweetie.”

With that the boy actually falls asleep relatively quickly which causes Clint and Phil to coo in admirance. Deciding to not be too much of stalkers though they quickly enter the kitchen area.

“Phil, he’s just so cute and so sweet,” Clint gushes as he begins to take out the cooking ingredients to make lasagna.

“He really is, he’s so small, too,” Phil mentions with a slight sigh. “Hopefully the boys take to him well. I think Thor is already hoping to try and turn him into a mini him like he tried with Steve.”

* * *

Tony remembers falling into the first blissful sleep he’s had in awhile, however, he doesn’t remember much after that. There are bits and pieces of his nightmare that quickly flash in his mind but not anything enough where he’s able to recount exactly which moment he was reliving. What he does remember, though, is waking up with a start and not being able to help the sole yelp escape his lips. The boy quickly throws a hand over his mouth to quiet any other noise threatening to leave his lips, however, his action was futile.

“Tones? You alright?” Phil asks as Tony hears him walking in his direction.

“Y-yeah I’m fine,” Tony weakly says, hating the way his voice broke.

“Hey what’s up? You need more pain meds? You hurting?” Phil says as he sits on the couch beside the boy.

Tony’s looking down when Phil manages to sit beside him, so gently the man extends a hand to place on the boy’s shoulder, however, he apparently wasn’t gentle enough as Tony immediately flinched backwards.

“It’s just me, bud, you’re alright. I’m not gonna touch you, don’t worry, but can you look at me?” This time Tony does lift his head ever so slightly, and immediately Phil has a feeling he knows what’s up with the boy. “Did you have a bad dream, bud?”

Tony’s immediate nod causes Phil to coo again.

“You can say no, honey, but can I give you a hug?” Phil asks to which Tony immediately nods at and practically dives into the man’s arms.

Phil luckily has quick reflexes and catches onto the boy with ease and maneuvers him into his lap as he encases his arms around the boy and begins to bounce and shush him. Phil briefly hears Clint enter the room before making his way to the front door to call in Steve and Bucky for dinner. Thor must have just gotten home as well because soon enough a loud ruckus was entering the house which had Phil standing with the boy in his arms and making his way onto the soft couch in the rec room. Though the entire time Tony was being held he wasn’t crying, he still would release occasional whimpers, however, eventually Phil realized those stopped and decided now would be the time to address the boy.

“How you doing, babe?” Phil coos as he pushes the boy’s hair back.

“M’fine,” Tony mumbles while twirling the cuffling of the older man’s shirt around.

“I don’t really like that answer cause I don’t know if you’re actually fine, but you seem better from before. Wanna tell me about the nightmare?” Phil asks to which Tony shakes his head. “That’s alright. Conversation for another day. For now, how about some food? Dinner’s ready.”

At this Tony does nod his head to which Phil once again lifts him up as they make their way into the dining room where Phil places the boy onto a seat between Thor and Clint.

“So boys, I know I said no bonding activities, but I think it would be nice if you got to know Tony a bit as well as he got to know you. So how about some introductions?” Clint suggests.

He doesn’t know what he was expecting but it wasn’t the boys simply saying their name and age before further digging into their meals. Clint and Phil shared some exasperated expressions but still said nothing as they did not want to force any bonds. Things didn’t seem to get interesting until Bucky leaned across the table with his left arm to grab the water pitcher.

“Woah is that vibranium? That’s so cool! How light is it? Is it oriented through your ligaments to possess normal functionality?” Tony stares in admiration of the metal prosthesis that he must have missed earlier in the day.

Rather than receiving answers to his questions, though, he receives two hard glares of which one is quick to storm off.

“Jesus, didn’t your parents ever teach you to mind your own business?!” Steve seethes at the boy as he chases after his brother up to his room.

Phil gives their eldest a slight look which signals for him to go make sure the boys don’t get too overwhelmed before it’s just Tony, Clint, and Phil at the table.

“I-I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend him, I really just thought it was cool and I wanted to know cause my dad worked with that metal a lot and-” Tony begins to ramble before he finds Clint gently lifting him into his lap.

“Hey, hey, sweetie. Calm down, okay? Calm down. You said nothing wrong or insensitive, Bucky’s just a little sensitive about it, and well, Steve’s sensitive about Bucky,” Clint explains as he runs his hand through the boy’s hair.

“I’m really sorry,” Tony says with wide eyes that have both adults melting.

“We know, sweets, we know. We’re not mad at you, but tomorrow you’ll probably want to apologize to Bucky. He may be easy to upset, but he’s also easy to gain forgiveness from.”

Tony doesn’t respond after that aside from a small nod, and simply goes back to twirling food around his plate. It took a bit of coaxing to get the boy to take a couple more bites but eventually Phil and Clint allow him to be excused.

* * *

The rest of the night is rather quiet. Clint helps Tony get set in the bathroom so he can wash the hospital smell off of him before he’s settling away in his room. He didn’t manage to get many of his belongings back home, just a couple sets of clothes, a few toys, and some photos/documents he couldn’t live without. Regardless, the boy settles into a set of PJs before he hears a knock at the door.

“Tones? Can I come in?” Clint asks from beyond the door to which Tony replies a yes. “It’s five to bedtime, so are you ready to settle in?”

“Ready,” Tony says as he adjusts his sling.

“Alright, now if you need anything tonight all you need to do is call for us and we’ll come help. Whether it be a nightmare, you need to potty, or want a glass of water; whatever you need, okay?”

As Tony nods, Clint begins to help the boy lay in bed before laying some pillows under his leg to keep his ankle propped up. Phil pops his head in just as Clint is making his way to the door and bids the boy a goodnight. Upon asking if he wants the door completely shut both men see the boy hesitate before cautiously asking if it could be left a crack open, leading to suspicions that he may be scared of the dark. Upon obliging, though, the two men made their way down to the room which has been far too quiet to have been housing three teenagers at the moment.

“Boys? A word, yeah?” Clint asks as he enters the room only to see the three watching something on Netflix.

“God, dad, where’d you pick that kid up from? Who asks shit like that?!” Steve immediately exclaims as his fathers enter, arms tightening around Bucky.

“Language,” Clint says with a stern look. “And I’d like you to look back on what you said: kid. He’s a kid, Stevie, he’s eight years old. He gets curious and asks the first thing that comes to mind. I know you don’t like people mentioning your arm, Bucks, but he didn’t mean anything by it. His dad worked with vibranium so he thinks it’s cool.”

“So he’s really the Stark kid,” Bucky states rather than replying to what his father was actually discussing.

“Yes, he was Howard Stark’s son,” Phil replies. “Though, that isn’t relevant right now. He feels really bad about what he said, and I’m sure he’ll be stuttering out apologies all morning, but I hope you know he didn’t mean anything bad by it.”

“I know, papa, s’just you know how it is sometimes. Plus I haven’t been to Dr. Garcia in like two weeks, and I think I’m just pent up,” Bucky sighs.

“We’ve got an appointment tomorrow now that he’s back in town,” Clint replies as he leans down to kiss the boy’s forehead. “Just with Tony, he went through a lot. Do you think you guys could try to include him a bit? I know he’s young, but I think he needs some big brother figures in his life.”

The boys all nod as their fathers let them go back to their movie before the two are making their way to their own room. Unbeknownst to Tony, the men had decided due to the boy’s intense medical issues at the moment they would leave one of their old baby monitors in the room in order for them to hear when the boy called for them. What they weren’t expecting to hear the second they turned it on, however, was the tell tale sound of whimpering and muffled cries.

“Nightmare? Should we go check on him?” Clint suggest immediately.

“I don’t think this is a nightmare. I think this is him finally realizing the severity of the situation and having it hit him all at once,” Phil says back with a sad look. “I think we need to let him handle this one on his own until he calls for us.”

And though it pained both of the men, they spent the next hour or so listening to the pitiful cries of the young boy before he finally managed to lull himself to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Tony doesn’t sleep much that night. After crying himself to sleep he only managed an hour of shut eye before his nightmares woke him up. After that, it seemed as though he kept going in and out of sleep only to be continuously woken up by the nightmares that appear when he shuts his eyes. Regardless of that, though, it is now just after 8:00 AM and Tony has been sitting in his bed fully awake for the past 2 hours.

He knows at least one person in the house is awake cause he heard them go down the stairs, but he doesn’t know who and he’s not sure if he should try to find out considering they may not want him to bother them. As the boy continued to think back and forth to himself whether he should call out for someone, he noticed the handle of his door slowly turning causing for him to quickly pull the covers over his head, feigning sleep.

“Tony? You awake?” Tony hears the voice of Phil ask while footsteps lead into the room.

“Y-yeah,” the boy says back quietly while pushing the covers just below his eyes.

“Have you been up awhile bud? I was just coming to leave a phone so you could call us to come down,” Phil says while approaching the side of Tony’s bed.

“Not too long,” the boy hastily replies which has Phil holding back a chuckle at the obvious lie.

“Well would you like to come downstairs? I picked up some breakfast and you can get first pick since you’re first awake.”

Tony finds himself nodding to which Phill then gently lifts the boy up, allows him to use the restroom briefly, before finishing their trek downstairs. Once there, rather than settling Tony into the wheelchair Phil continues to carry the boy until they’re in the kitchen and then just sets him on the counter.

“So we have an assortment of donuts, bagels, and muffins plus a lot of fruit. Pick your fancy!”

Tony looks at the food before tentatively picking up a classic glazed donut and putting it on the plate Phil passed to him. He wasn’t gonna grab more, but after a bit of encouragement he grabbed a second donut with the addition of a couple strawberries and diced up bananas to his place. Once Phil seemed content with the boy’s plate size he lifted him off the counter and carried him over to where they ate dinner the night before where he was only slightly startled to see Clint sitting at drinking some coffee.

“I didn’t even hear you come downstairs, babe,” Phil says as he places Tony into the seat beside his husband, while leaning in to give said man a chaste kiss.

“Passed you when you were getting our rugrat up,” Clint replies easily before turning to the boy beside him. “Speaking of rugrat, morning, buddy. D’you sleep well?”

Rather than replying he nods his head as he begins to push around some of the banana pieces.

“We might have some nap time today, but that’ll be later. I was thinking today we just hang low, gather our bearing a bit more,” Phil filled in which received a nod from his husband.

Conversation quickly died out from there, or at least it did for Tony. The boy half heartedly picked at his food, occasionally taking a bite, while he could faintly hear the two men currently housing him talk about god knows what. Eventually, though, a series of new voices register in Tony’s head only to then see Steve and Bucky making their way down the stairs.

“Morning pops, morning dad!” Steve says while kissing each mans’ cheek, Bucky following in his footsteps. “Oh donuts! You’re the best pops!”

“Hey, how do you know I didn’t get them?” Clint asks in an offended manner.

“Like you’d wake up early enough to get the good donuts from Mojo’s,” Bucky retorts this time as he grabs A bagel and a half plus a strawberry donut.

As the boy approaches the table he makes eye contact with Tony, briefly averts his gaze, before sighing as he took the seat next to the boy. Tony could still hear Steve in the kitchen talking to Phil, so he thought this may be a good moment to apologize especially considering he has a feeling Steve dislikes him even more than Bucky does. The young boy must not have realized how intensely he was thinking about all of this, though, cause next thing he knows he feels a gentle hand being placed on his back as Clint leans down to speak to him.

“Don’t overthink anything, buddy, no one’s asking for you to turn water into wine. Just a small apology,” Clint encourages, fully aware that Bucky can probably hear him.

And it seems as though that was all the little encouragement Tony needed as he looked over to the boy beside him.

“I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings by mentioning your arm yesterday, I’m sorry. I promise I won’t ever do it again,” Tony says in the loudest voice he can muster up– and he would be lying if he said he wasn’t trying to force tears not to form in his eyes.

“No harm, no foul. I was being a bit dramatic running off like I did last night,” Bucky says back with a genuine smile on his face. “I promise I’ll call my attack dog off of you now.”

For half a second Tony knows his face must show fear, but in the next half all he hears is Steve shouting at Bucky to stop referring to him as a dog.

“Oh but Stevey you’d make a great guard dog!”

* * *

Breakfast ends up being pretty uneventful the rest of the time. Or at least until Thor finally makes his emergence at just shy of 11:00 AM and immediately begins to attack the leftover pastries. Now, all four boys are seated on the couch watching some robot cartoon that Clint had turned on for Tony– claiming that the TV was his until noon regardless of the little boy’s protest.

For the most part, though, Tony stays relatively engrossed within the show he’s not familiar with, and occasionally even giggles, which causes for the three older boys around him to silently coo in admiration– even Steve though he’d deny it. Just as it hits noon, though, none of the brothers are able to bring themselves to change the channel on the boy, so they simply put up with one more episode before Phil and Clint are reemerging into the room.

“Alright, guys, Tasha and Bruce are coming over with the kids. It’s finally warm enough outside that I think a nice little barbeque could be fun, and I’ll even uncover the pool for you all,” Clint says to which all but causes the boys to erupt in cheers. 

Typically Tony would have flinched at that, however, Phil appeared to have known what was going to happen because before Clint dropped the news the man had crouched in front of the boy and told him to breathe in and relax.

“Tasha and Bruce are very good friends of ours, and you’ll be seeing them quite often,” Phil explains while pushing back some of the boy’s unruly hairs. “We did our foster parent training with them, and like us they also have four kids. Two are even around your age, Rhodey and Happy. They’re 11 and 12.”

“That’s- that’s bigger than me,” Tony mumbles while bringing the sleeve of his shirt to cover his mouth.

“Yeah, but not by much. Plus they’re very nice, and I know they’d love to play with you if you want.”

Tony just shrugged, not knowing exactly what to say which caused Phil to sigh as he tousled the boy’s hair seeing as it wasn’t going to stay neat anyways.

With that the other three boys ran upstairs to get changed while Clint began to uncover the pool. Phil, realizing Tony probably doesn’t have a bathing suit of his own, follows after the boys up the stairs before reemerging with a set of swim trunks that Tony can immediately tell will be too big on him.

“All our boys have always been pretty tall since moving in, so this is the smallest I can find. I think with the drawstring, though, we’ll be able to keep them up.”

“I’m not allowed to get my stitches wet, though.”

“Well that is true, but you can still be in some swim trunks. We’ve got a really big float that doesn’t let any water onto it, so maybe you can float around on that.”

Tony thinks for a bit before nodding his head as he grabs the trunks and is about to wheel himself to the bathroom before realizing a slight issue. Last night after his bath he hadn’t been able to pull up his pajama bottoms on his own due to needing to hop around on one foot but also being down an arm. Because of that Clint had to help the boy situate himself, which the boy is now realizing may need to be more consistent than he would like.

“Uh, Ph-Phil?” Tony mumbles just before the man is able to turn away.

“Yeah, what’s up, bud?”

“Cl-Clint had to help me with my pants last night cause- cause I can’t stand or pull that hard, and-”

Upon noticing the flusteredness of the boy but also remembering what his husband had told him the night before, Phil gently shushes the boy from needing to further explain as he understood what was being asked.

“Ah I should have thought of that myself bud, thank you though for being brave and letting me know that you needed help. Alright let’s do this here so I can sit on the sofa to be at your height, and then we’ll have you stand on one foot while using your hand to balance against me, alright?”

Tony nodded at the plan as Phil sat on the couch and then gently reached forward to lift Tony from his seat and stand him to be between his legs. He made sure the little boy had his balance before quickly helping him rid himself of his pajama bottoms and little set of underoos. Phil had to keep himself from chuckling at the boy’s bashful as he attempted to cross his legs to cover himself, but really just ended up making it look as if he were doing a mini potty dance. From there, he grabs hold of the swim trunks, however, just as they are only half way up the boy’s legs, the front door swings open revealing Tasha and her eldest– and only– daughter.

“Woah, baby boy bits!” Pepper, Tasha and Bruce’s 16 year old, squeals as she turns to give some privacy but also to block her brothers from entering if only for a moment.

“Yikes, sorry Phil, we should have knocked,” Natasha immediately apologizes to which Phil gives her a half smile as he rushes to pull up the bathing suit the rest of the way and quickly tie it as tight as he can.

Once done the man swings the red faced boy onto his hip– only for Tony to immediately hide his face in Phil’s shoulder– as he walks over to the front door to greet his friends.

“No harm, no foul, Tash,” Phil says with a smile as he kisses the woman’s cheek. “T here’s alright, aren’t you, bud? Shh, no need for any of this, it’s okay. No one saw anything but Tash and hardly even Pepper.”

The man bounces the boy up and down a few more times before Tony is finally removing his face– if only slightly, but a win is a win.

“There he is! Bud, I’d like to introduce you to some very good friends of ours. This is Natasha and Bruce, and behind them we have their four kids. We’ve got Rhodey and Happy who I told you about earlier. Then there’s Sam who’s 14 just like Bucky and Steve. And last but not least Pepper who’s 16. So as you can see, their kids and our kids match up in ages pretty well, so you’ll be seeing them a lot,” Phil introduces. “And guys, this is Tony. He’s 8, and he’ll be staying with us for awhile.

“Hi Tony it’s really nice to meet you,” Natasha is first to introduce while looking at the little boy with the most delicate of eyes. “Please, though, call me Tasha.”

“I’m good with being referred to as boring old Bruce, but it is nice to meet you. We’ve already heard a lot about you,” Bruce says with a smile as he rubs the boy’s back.

“Alright now that these introductions are done, I’ve gotta T here his medication. Clint’s outside lifting the pool tarp and the boys should be down right about now.”   
And true to his word, and Tony’s shock, all three boys are sprinting down the stairs, casually throwing greetings to the adults while yelling for the kids to join. With a brief nod from Natasha, the four kids sprint off outside leaving Phil, Tony, Tasha, and Bruce in the entryway of the living room.

“I’ll go help Clint with the remainder of the tarp. Tash, go put away those steaks and sausages,” Bruce says while making his way outside.

From there the three enter the kitchen, Natasha placing away the food while Phil situates Tony on the counter as he distributes the medications the boy was prescribed to take. Tony is quick to oblige before Clint is kidnapping the boy to be outside with everyone else– wheelchair long forgotten in the living room. 

“I am sorry about bursting in like that by the way,” Nat says as she helps Phil cut up some of the watermelon. “Embarrassing kids the first day they’re in the home is the last thing anyone wants.”

“Yeah but no I think he’s fine. He’s little still; in more ways than one, too, as far as I can tell.”

“Do tell?”

“Well, right off the bat he’s young. Only 8 years old. But also his height and weight also. He looks like he’s closer to 6 than anything else. He told us yesterday he had just moved up from carseat to booster seat, but I don’t know how true that actually is,” Phil states. “But also– and I can be jumping the gun on this– behaviorally he may be younger? Or mentally? I don’t know maybe it’s just because he’s shy and still nervous about everything– plus having just been nearly beaten to death surely doesn’t help any of this– but his behaviors to me are more resemblant to a 6 year old as well. Hesitant, though he’s vigilant of everything and all of his movements seem to be thought out as he’s doing them. Not to mention I swear every time he replies to us he’s forcing himself not to put one of his fingers in his mouth.”

“Yet you’ve only known this kid 48 hours?”

“Shut up! I don’t know, maybe I’m reading too far into all of this, but as of now this is just what I’ve seen. We’re actually gonna have him start seeing Bruce this week, like for appointments.”

“Isn’t that like unethical?”

“No, the state actually is the one who is pressuring us to have Bruce be his therapist. At least for now that is. He specializes in trauma therapy, especially for kids. And I think he may feel more comfortable talking to him if he sees that we already have an established friendship. Eventually we may change to the one all the boys share, but for now I think Bruce is our best bet.”

“I mean you know me, I’m always team Bruce.”


	4. Chapter 4

“So another addition to the Coulson bunch, huh?” Pepper asks if she finds herself lounging on one of the pool floats around the boys. 

“Did you meet little Tony or was it just our fathers telling you all?” Thor asks while stealing a float away from Steve.

“Oh we met,” Sam all but laughed. “Phil was changing him in the middle of the living room when we first walked in.”

“Shut up, Sam. My first encounter with you was under a similar experience,” Pepper taunts back which gets the boy to grumble before challenging Bucky to a race. “But seriously, new addition. How’s that going?”

“He just moved in yesterday but our fathers have known they’re taking him in for about three maybe four days now? He’s a sweet one but very shy. Haven’t gotten much intel from the parentals but considering who he is I’m assuming he’s only here as a result of some serious abuse.”

“Who he is?”

“His full name is Tony Stark,” Steve cuts in this time. “Son of-”

“Howard Stark. Yeah I remember him being in the news after his parents died. But he was put in the hands of...oh.  _ Oh _ ,” Pepper states coming to the conclusion of which the three Coulson boys have also assumed.

“We’re thinking eventually we’ll get some word on it from our parents cause like this is definitely something to break the news, but they haven’t kept us in the loop as of yet.”

“Has he talked to you guys? I know it’s only been a day but?”

“Well, I may have gotten a little hot headed with him yesterday,” Steve admits bashfully. “But it wasn’t my fault! He mentioned Buck’s arm and he got upset so then I got upset and just yeah. I think we’re all on the same page of starting over today though.”

“I beg to differ, little brother,” Thor snorts. “Bucky and Tony may have made amends this morning, but you have said nothing to him. Not being mean doesn’t mean you’re being nice.”

Before Steve can reply, though, Clint is carrying Tony out into the backyard, tossing him up in the air like parents do with their toddlers, a couple of giggles actually escaping the boy’s lips as the action is done to him. Steve, Bucky, and Thor can all see the joy in their dad’s eyes as they watch him carry around Tony like a little kid– or rather an even littler kid– because they know that was an action not often able to be done with them. It’s not that they were opposed to being carried or tossed up and down, but Thor was the youngest to have moved into the home at the young age of 6, however, the boy always held a physique equivalent to those two to three years older than him. Then with Steve he had come to the home when he was nine, and had felt as though he’d grown out of that phase of life– though he didn’t deny the couple of times he was carried around it did make him feel safe. And then with Bucky, who only joined the family when he was 12, he was just a bit too big to be lifted, though, of all the boys he probably accepted the coddling the most right off the bat. So yeah, it was nice getting to see their dad do what he’s always loved to do.

As Tony’s giggling died down, Clint began to walk over to the edge of the pool, stopping just short of the water.

“Guys, I gotta start setting up the grill. Keep an eye on T?”

“I will take young Tony under my wing, dad,” Thor says with a smirk.    
“I’ll make sure he doesn’t fall in the water and that everything’s all good, Clint,” Pepper says immediately after which allows for Clint to actually smile before walking away.

So now Tony sat at the edge of the pool, one leg dangling in the water as Steve, Pepper, and Thor looked on at him.

“So Tony we didn’t get to properly meet. I’m Pepper, it’s very nice to meet you,” she says while extending a hand.

“S’nice to meet you too,” Tony greets as he shakes her hand, blush only slightly present on his cheeks.

She asked the boy a couple questions about himself before finally deciding to leave him alone as she assumed he just wasn’t up for talking based on his one dimensional responses. In reality, though, Tony does like talking. Actually he loves it because when he’s quiet for too long all the thoughts in his head begin to bottle up and then he can’t think straight at all. However, just right now he feels so drained on the inside that it’s hard to keep conversations going, especially with people older than him who are definitely looking for things more engaging than  _ what’s your favorite cartoon. _

Nevertheless, though, Pepper along with all the other boys decided to take up a game of chicken leaving Tony all to himself on the side of the water. He watched as Pepper got on Thor’s shoulders and easily took down Sam from Steve’s followed by Bucky– though he did put up a bit more fight. Just as Tony began to wonder where the other two boys were he heard a voice approach him from behind.

“Hey do you wanna play with us?”

As he turns around he sees said boys looking over him with an expectant expression.

“What?”

“I said, do you wanna play with us? You look bored just sitting on the edge,” the one Tony remembers to be named Rhodey asks.

“Uh, sure. What are you guys playing?”

“We were gonna have a pool jumping contest!” the one named Happy says with just a hint of a smile.

“Oh, well, uh, I can’t get wet cause I have stitches. Thanks for offering though,” Tony replies a little bummed out.

“Do you wanna be the judge? You can do that from outside the pool,” Rhodey suggests, and Tony can’t help but smile as he agrees.

So now Happy and Rhodey are on the other side of the pool alternating doing different jumps in to the water. It started off as some simple jumps: pencil, dive, cannon ball. But then Tony threw in a freestyle jump and the boys began to do flips and other things that he definitely had not been expecting. By the time the adults had decided the kids should come in to grab some food, the last thing they were expecting to see was the three young ones laughing and hanging out like they’ve known each other their whole lives, however, it made Phil and Clint beam smiles.

“Alright guys come on out and grab some food! We’ve got burgers, we’ve got hotdogs, we’ve got chicken burgers, we’ve got it all,” Clint shouts while walking towards the youngest three.

He’s quick to give Happy and Rhodey a hand out of the pool so the boys could run over to grab a plate before bending down to lift up the littlest one.

“Alright, my man, you seem to have been having fun, but let’s get some food in you now,” Clints says while pushing some hair from Tony’s face. “Let’s also get some sunblock on you cause your cheeks are turning pink.”

“Clint, what do you and Tony want to eat?” Phil shouts while holding up two plates.

Rather than immediately replying, he gives Tony a raised eyebrow look as if to ask  _ whatcha want _ to which a quiet  _ hotdog _ was mumbled back, hands making their way to cover his mouth.

“Three hotdogs, babe!”

“Alright, mustard or mayo?”

“Who put’s mayo on a hotdog?” It’s Tony who asks this time with a perplexed look on his face which causes Clint to chuckle.

“You’ve got me, kid. Phil’s weird like that,” Clint says just as he seats Tony at the table with the other kids only to be met by a light smack to the back of the head. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding, Phil. You’ve just got  _ intricate _ taste.”

“Yeah laugh it up. Now, T, mustard or mayo?” Phil says this time while placing some jugs of juice and water on the table where the kids are.

“Ketchup?” Tony asked shyly.

“Ugh ketchup? Well, if you wanna be boring than sure,” Phil jokes before placing the plate down with a ketchup hotdog, some chips, and watermelon.

As the adults leave the kids, the three young boys immediately go back to talking and laughing about things only pre-teen boys would understand. Occasionally they’d receive some questioning stares from the older kids in the group but no one said much. Sam and Pepper chose this to be a time to get to know Tony a bit, though, Thor, Bucky, and Steve remained a bit more quiet in asking him questions as they knew they’d get to know him quite well on their own without hounding him with a million things.

Just as Tony found himself laughing at another joke Happy said, he felt his head go fuzzy. It was like a wave overcame his mind and all of a sudden he couldn’t focus on anything. He remembers having had this feeling before but he doesn’t remember the cause of it, which is why he doesn’t say anything before small jerks begin to consume his arm before falling fully out of his chair and onto the floor. Rhodey and Happy immediately stop their talking and laughter as Tony fell and when they looked over to see if their new friend was alright they couldn’t help but freak out as they witnessed his whole body convulsing.

“Mama! Dad!” Rhodey shouted with such urgency that all four adults were instantly running over. Even the older kids jumped at the terror in his voice, however, just they only noticed what was happening once the parents had gotten there.

“Shit, he’s having a seizure,” Clint immediately says as he rolls Tony to be on his side. “Pass me a towel or a pillow from the couch and someone check the time.”

Clint doesn’t know who hands it to him but he’s given both a towel and pillow, so gently he lifts the pillow to be under his head while gently sticking a finger into the boys mouth to remove the food he had been chewing prior to collapsing. He wipes away some of the saliva from the boy’s mouth as he continues to seize before finally his body relaxes out. 

The area is still silent as no one really knew how to react or what to do, plus it appeared as if Tony hadn’t fully come through yet. A couple more seconds passed before he began to blink and turn in Clint’s hold, where once he locked eyes with the man he couldn’t hold back any of his cries.

“Oh, buddy, I know. I know that was scary, but it’s okay. You’re okay, shh,” Clint cooed as he lifted the boy onto his hip, noticing a subtle wetness to the boy that could not have been there from the pool. “Shh, you’re okay. Let’s go inside for right now, we’ll get some air, get some water. Shh, T, it’s alright.”

As Clint carried the boy inside, Phil followed assuming they were going into the kitchen, though, confused when Clint makes a turn to go towards the stairs. As he places a questioning hand on his husband’s back, though, he’s met with Clint wording  _ accident _ before he finally understood. Clint continues to shush and soothe the boy the rest of the way up the way up the stairs until they’re in their own room.

“Hey, T, can you look at me, bud? I know that was scary but it’s over and done with now. You’re all safe now,” Clint coos as he rubs the back of the boy’s head trying to get him out from his shoulder.

It took a few moments but Tony eventually removed his head and immediately went to rub away the tears from his eyes.

“There we go, you’re alright,” Phil cooed this time as he used a tissue to wipe away some of the tears. 

“I-I-I had an acci-accident, I’m sorry,” Tony hiccuped, rubbing at his eyes once again only for Phil to gently pry them away.

“That wasn’t your fault, hun, you had a seizure and that happens a lot with those,” Clint explains to the boy. “But at least you were wearing your swim trunks, so now no one downstairs knows what happened and the whole point of bathing suits is to be able to get wet so this’ll just be an easy wash.”

Clint allows Tony to process that for a moment before continuing on.

“Hun, has this ever happened before? Having a seizure?” 

“I-I think so, never really remember it hap-happening. Just wake up and I’m on the floor.”

The two parents look at each other in concern for just a moment because this was not anywhere in his file for them to be aware of, before coming back to the current situation. Deciding this was a later issue, for now Clint goes to help Tony wash off while Phil grabs a water bottle from downstairs, an ice pop, as well as gives Natasha and Bruce a mini update. By the time Phil is back upstairs, Clint is settling Tony into some fleece shorts and a t-shirt.

Phil has Tony drink half the water bottle before giving him the ice pop as they make their way downstairs. Nat and Bruce must have figured it’d be best to move everyone inside after the little escapade because when they got downstairs they could hear talking from the rec room as well as the basement which Phil is now realizing they never got to show Tony.

“You can go play with Rhodey and Happy again, babe, or you can stay here with us and I’ll put a movie or show on for you. I kind of think you should have a small nap,” Phil offers the boy, seriously hoping the boy takes the latter option.

And luckily for them he does which he why Tony now finds himself laid out on the couch, pillow propped below his head and leg, blanket thrown over him as the same robot show from earlier plays on in the background. In all honesty, Tony’s not even shocked with how fast he falls asleep after that.

As the adults hear the boy’s breathing even out, they can’t help but discuss what had just occurred. Bruce made a claim that it was hot outside today and that easily could have sparked a seizure in a young child especially one as underweight as Tony, while Natasha chose to point out it could just be a delayed reaction to his concussion. And though these are possible things, the fact that Tony said he  _ thinks _ it’s happened before makes them want to rush to the doctor’s right away to get an evaluation.

“I think you should wait. Taking him back to the doctor’s or hospital so soon after being released may just scare him more. How about when you go in for an evaluation of his foot and arm you mention it to the doctor, and then they can look him over then?” Bruce suggests.

“I guess that works. We’re going at the end of the week, so as long as he doesn’t have another one during that time I don’t mind having to wait a few more days,” Phil says, though, Clint still seems skeptical.

“I don’t like kids and seizures together. Especially when there’s a history yet no diagnosis,” Clint argues. “But I understand what you’re saying about taking him back may scare him more, which is the only reason I’m agreeing. I think it may be a good idea that we call his doctor though to let her know.”

Phil didn’t even have to nod his head as he simply lifted out his phone and began to call the personal number the doctor had provided for them.


	5. Chapter 5

At this point in his life, Tony’s used to things occurring in a domino like effect. Especially the bad things. It’s always been the case, so he’s sort of come to the point where when one thing happens he knows another will shortly follow. Regardless of how much he hopes it doesn’t.

Unfortunately for him, that trend seems like it’s going to continue today.

Nightmares are something that have plagued the boy since his parents were still alive. Granted, while his parents were alive the nightmares were over silly things like a monster being in his closet or something else imaginary. After his parents’ deaths, though, the nightmares turned to being slightly more realistic because, well, they were real. He kept dreaming of his parents dying and being left on his own forever with no one to take care of him. At this point in his life, Obadiah would just shout for him to stop screaming and keeping him awake but not much more. And he never really thought he would crave for that to come back. As the abuse began, it also started to affect his nightmares, causing them to be even more intense, and this only seemed to rile up Obadiah ever more. Especially the nights where he would wake up with wet sheets. Even though Obadiah never had to touch any of the messes Tony made, because Jarvis was still around, he found himself needing to beat and yell at the boy more because this was _not_ behavior Stark’s should be implementing. Unfortunately, the response only caused for the occurrences to happen more frequently.

Those first couple nights in the hospital were probably the first time in years in which Tony went consecutive nights without wetting the bed, and his only explanation was that he was so drugged up that he couldn’t dream. This made him smile only slightly because it got him to believe that something wasn’t wrong with himself and he is capable of holding his pee, it’s just a matter of his nightmares provoking the release. The smile didn’t last, though, because he doesn’t remember a night where he didn’t have a nightmare. He was slightly surprised at his first night at Clint and Phil’s that he woke up dry both when he napped on the couch and at night when he slept for minimal hours, but he wasn’t going to question it as it allowed him another 24 hours to figure out a way to hide or wash sheets before the men could notice in future occurrences.

Though logically, Tony could have realized that the men wouldn’t get upset with him if he were to have an accident based on how they reacted to the incident from the seizure. But at the same time, they did say _this happens with seizures_ , so what if they don’t see an excuse for it to happen at night and get mad before returning him to Obadiah. Or what if the older boys find out and then decide they definitely shouldn’t talk to him anymore. Tony doesn’t know what would hurt him more: Phil and Clint being disgusted with him or Steve, Bucky, and Thor refusing to speak to someone as incompetent as him.

As thought continued to pile on in his mind, he couldn’t help but twist and turn on the couch, whimpering in fear, before finally launching up and covering his mouth with his hand so stop the sob from escaping. As he began to mildly collect himself, though, all the fear from his dream came rushing back as he felt the dampness below him on the cushions of the couch as well as on the blanket that engulfs him.

As his breathing begins to pick up, he can hear the familiar voices of Phil and Clint coming from the kitchen area as well as the TV being on in front of him. He doesn’t hear any of the older kids, but he remembers Phil saying they were downstairs, so hopefully they stay there long enough for him to figure out a way to get upstairs to change, hide the blanket, and clean the cushion– which luckily isn’t cloth so it’s not like there’s a wet patch. Just as the boy is about to attempt to stand up, though, he’s stopped by finally noticing the figure seated on the floor at the foot of the couch watching him gently as an ice pack is pressed to his jaw.

“I didn’t want to scare you by saying anything,” Steve says gently as he sees the boy finally notice him. “Are you okay? Bad dream?”

Tony can only nod his head as he tries to hide himself under the blanket while also trying to hide the blanket incase the stain leaked through.

“That’s okay, all of us get them still occasionally. Even all of Nat and Bruce’s kid, too. Want me to get my dads?” Steve says as he slowly starts to stand.

“No!” Tony replies too fast not to raise eyebrows. “Why do you have an ice pack?” Tony asks now, trying to change the topic.

“We were playing ninja downstairs, I took a whack to the jaw by Bucky’s stronger arm by accident,” Steve shrugged as he took a seat at the foot of the sofa now. “Are you sure you don’t want me to get my dads? They’re really good at comforting after nightmares.”  
“No, no, don’t!” Tony whimpers, tears beginning to spring to his eyes.

As Steve noticed the distraught growing in Tony, he instinctively reached a hand out to comfort the boy, however, he stops short when he brushes across the comforter and feels the familiar wetness. Tony sees the realization dawn upon his face which is all it takes for the tears in his eyes to begin freely falling down his face.

“Oh, uh, that’s okay. It’s okay, you’re okay, this happens. Happens to everyone, especially everyone in this house, okay? I know I was mean to you yesterday and I haven’t done much to get you to trust me, but I mean it. It’s okay, uh, I’m gonna go get my dads, but you’re okay I promise,” Steve rushes as he quickly leaves the couch to fetch his parents.

And honestly everything Steve said was true. For all three boys in the house, this had been a normal occurrence when they first arrived. Even Bucky he came when he was 12 suffered from it, so he knew the boy wouldn’t have to worried about being picked on, but he also knew how scary it was the first time it happens because you don’t know what the after effect will be.

Steve is quick to make his way to the kitchen area, however, rather than running in frantically to collect his dads he slows himself at the entrance and walks in rather casually. He knows the last thing Tony wants is a huge fuss coming from four adults especially after having them fuss over him after his seizure, so he decided this needs to be done in the most discreet of ways.

“Hi, baby, how’s your mouth doing?” Clint asks as Steve approaches him, gently grabbing ahold of his jaw and having the boy open his mouth to take a look at his bottom lip and gums of which had taken the brute of the hit. “S’not bleeding anymore and not too swollen.”

“Feels fine, dad, Bucky didn’t mean to,” Steve assures. “Uh, can you come to the living room for a sec?”

“You alright, baby?” Clint says a bit softer so that those around them know he is meaning for this to be a more private question, though, he stands up nonetheless ready to leave the room.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m good. Can you just- can you come with me to the living room, please?”

Upon hearing a slightly familiar edge to the boy’s tone, Clint nods as he kisses the boy’s forehead before giving Phil an _I’ll inform you later, I guess_ type of look as he walks out of the kitchen. As they enter the living room, though, Clint has an idea of what Steve called him out for upon seeing the slightly shaking shoulders of Tony hunched over himself on the couch.

“Oh, T, you okay, baby? Did you have a bad dream? Or did you roll onto your arm?” Clint coos as he makes his way around the couch only to crouch in front of the crying little boy.

Though Tony’s only known the men for about 48 hours now, Phil and Clint have theorized that he has been touch starved for such a long time that the innocence in him has allowed for him to attempt to satisfy that craving to be held and comforted almost immediately. Which is why Clint is now confused as to why Tony is attempting to push himself further into the couch as well as make himself appear even smaller. Clint looks over to Steve in confusion to which the boy not so subtly gestures to the blanket the boy is trying to wrap himself in but also cover up. Confused, Clint reaches out a gentle hand only to come in contact with what he assumes Steve was trying to tell him.

“T, baby, it’s okay, I’m not upset. Did you have a scary dream? This happens a lot when people have scary dreams, just like it happens a lot when people have seizures. It all works the same, honey, and I wasn’t mad earlier, right?” Clint coos, feeling only slightly bad for exposing what happened to him earlier to Steve but also knowing the older boy would not do anything to try and hold this over his head.

Clint must have said something right, though, cause Tony begins to peak his head out from the blanket. He’s got tears covering his cheeks and a little bit of snot dribbled beneath his nose, but the cutest thing has to be the way the boy has his thumb gently placed in his mouth– the behavior Clint had theorized on finally being confirmed.

“There’s our big boy! See look, bud, I’m not mad or upset or anything. You had a little accident, it happens to the best of us,” Clint coos again as he pushes some of the boy’s hair back.

“You wanna know what my big boys used to love doing after this happened to them?” Clint asks, while also trying to hint to the boy that all the older boys had also experienced the same thing, not knowing Steve had already told him. When Tony provided a questioning look Clint continued, “They liked to get cleaned up, get some cuddles, and then have some hot coco with mini marshmallows! Doesn’t that sound good?”

Upon hearing the man’s excited tone, but also the intriguing offer, Tony couldn’t help but nod his head as allowed for himself to be fully exposed from his hiding. Clint couldn’t help the audible coo escape his lips as he lifted the boy, along with the blanket, telling Steve to get his father to clean off the cushion while he made his way up the stairs with Tony.

The entire ascent, Clint is still spieling off sweet nothings to Tony to assure him everything is fine. It continues that way all up until they’re in Phil and Clint’s bathroom where Clint gently seats the boy on the counter and begins to wipe down his face with a wet wipe to remove all the tear and snot residue, while also briefly extracting the boy’s thumb from his mouth so he could clean off his hand. Upon realizing what he had been doing, though, a strong blush presents itself on Tony’s cheek causing from Clint too coo once more.

“Alright, buddy, do you want another full bath, or should we just do a wipey bath?”

“Wipey,” Tony mumbles, fisting his eyes from what Clint isn’t sure is sleepiness or trying to prevent more tears.

Nodding at the boy’s choice, he’s quick to grab the pack of baby wipes as he discards the blanket wrapped around the boy as well as his shorts and underoos. He’s quick to clean the boy off while also making sure not to leave behind any residue, gently lifting the boy’s shirt off as well when he realized the bottom of it had gotten wet. Once he was satisfied, he lifted the boy and carried him into his own room where he helped in settle into a new outfit once again.

“You were so good, T, thank you for cooperating. Now it’s time for some cocoa and cuddles, huh?”

Clint doesn’t wait for a response, though, as he makes his way downstairs where all the kids are now settled onto the– clean– couch watching a movie, pizza plates surrounding them, while the adults– and Steve– were at the little family dining table they had just outside of the kitchen area. He can’t help but coo at how Steve is perched upon Phil’s lap, head gently leaning to the side to lay against his father’s shoulder while eating his pizza. Rather than commenting on it, though, he instead chooses to place Tony on Phil’s other knee while he went into the kitchen to make essentially a pot of hot cocoa cause he knows the other kids will want some as well.

By the time he’s done making it, Phil has readjusted both boys so they’re more comfortable as well as so he could feed Tony a couple bites of pizza at the very least. Deciding it would be best if he finished eating before getting the little dessert, Clint makes his way over to the rest of the kids to pass out the hot cocoa as well as leave a couple bowls of popcorn before handing one to Steve and finally Tony who had appeared to have just finished eating.

“What? None for the adults? I’m offended, I like mini marshmallows, too,” Bruce feigns hurt causing Tony to giggle from behind his mug. “Oh and what’s so funny, Mr. Tony? Are adults not allowed to like hot cocoa?”

“Mini marshmallows are for kids,” he explains with another giggle which causes all four adults to silently coo.

“You can’t argue the logic, Bruce. So it looks like if you want mini marshmallows you’re gonna have to get T here to sign off on it,” Phil chuckles.

Bruce gives Tony his best pleading look which causes the boy to go into another fit of giggles before he agrees to let Clint share the mini marshmallows with him and the other adults. When Clint makes his way back into the room, the table is now bare of any children which causes him to raise a brow.

“Tasha gave the kids a 30 minute warning, so Rhodes, Happy, and Tony decided to play together for the last bit of the night,” Bruce explains. “Everything alright with him by the way?”  
“Yeah, yeah, just usual stuff,” Clint says not wanting to go into detail.

For the next 30 minutes, the adults talk while the kids play or finish their movie before finally the Banner clan is told it is time to pack up. All bid their farewells, Rhodey and Happy promising a sleepover soon, before it’s back to just being the six of them.

“Alright it’s getting late. Tones, let’s get you settled in bed, as for the rest of you start to get ready for sleep. You’ve got school tomorrow and games and all that stuff,” Phil says while clapping his hands.

Tony doesn’t have time to reply before he’s swept up into Clint’s arms as they make their ascent up the stairs. Clint goes through the same routine as the night before allowing the boy to brush his teeth, go to the bathroom, then bringing him back to bed. He tells him the same stuff as the last night to call out if he needs anything– a bit more emphasis if he needs the bathroom– before Phil is entering the room. Rather than just standing at the door frame, though, he enters and sits at the foot of Tony’s bed.

“So, bud, tomorrow the boy’s are going to school, and you’re gonna start that up again soon but not yet, okay? We are, however, gonna go in tomorrow to introduce you to the principal and your teacher, so that you’re comfortable when you get there,” Phil explains as he waits for Tony to nod. “We also have an appointment Bruce tomorrow just after lunch time.”

“Why- why do we have an appointment with Mr. Bruce?” Tony asks confused.

“Well, Bruce is a psychiatrist, T. More specifically he’s a psychiatrist for kids who have dealt with a lot of hardships. Remember how we said everyone goes to therapy in this house? Well, Bruce is going to be your guy to talk to at least for now.”

“Does that- does that mean I can’t do a sleepover with Rhodey or Happy cause- cause their dad is my therapist?”

“No not at all, sweetheart. You’ll be able to hang out with the boys as much as you want. We just want Bruce to be the person you talk to at first because a lot of the stuff may be hard to tell people you’re not comfortable with, and we’re hoping you become comfortable with him. Anything you say stays between the two of you only, I promise. He’ll never tell his family anything, and only occasionally will he give us updates,” Clint explains this time.

When they were sure Tony had no more questions, they left him with a kiss on the forehead from each of them before turning the lights off.

Allowing for the thought of nightmares to once again consume Tony’s mind.


	6. Chapter 6

As Clint and Phil wake up the next morning, Phil descends down the stairs to prepare breakfast and lunch for the boys while Clint states he needs to check on Tony. He’s not sure what made had that thought being the first thing to register into his mind that morning, but he’s glad it did when he walked into the room to find a hobbling Tony attempting to strip his bed. Just like the afternoon before Clint cooed over and soothed the boy into calming down and assuring him that everything is fine before he was finally allowed to give some assistance. By the time Tony was calmed down and ready for the morning adventure, the other three boys in the house had gotten ready for school and were finishing up their breakfast.

Phil gently set out a plate of food for both Clint and Tony as he rubbed a thumb under Tony’s puffy eyes. It took a bit of encouragement to get the boy to eat, but eventually the once chaotic morning turned into how the mornings typically go.

“Uh, so remember when I said I would get my car fixed by this week? Well, surprise I forgot. Um, can I borrow one of your cars?” Thor replies sheepishly while rubbing the back of his neck.

“Okay so you remember that book I buy you before every school year? The one that has every day of the year in it and allows you to write things in it for all 24 hours in the day? Well, it’s intended use is so you don’t forget to do things not to be a lever in keeping the projector in your room elevated,” Phil sighs while rolling his eyes. “You can use my car today. You’re lucky I had already taken the day off work, so we could wrap up some appointments with Tony after the school visit.”

“See I tell you every year not to buy me that and instead invest in an Apple watch that’ll buzz my wrist for reminders,” Thor retorts only to duck away from the hand going to scuff the back of his head. “I’m kidding, thank you for letting me use your car! Love you, guys! See you later, squirts squared.”

“When there’s three it’s cubed,” Bucky replies which has Thor rolling his eyes before grabbing the car keys and his discarded bag.

“Alright you three, we need to get on the road as well. Steve, wanna set up the booster seat Tasha brought back to the house yesterday? And Buck’s can you help T with his shoes and getting a sweater on him? Papa and I will meet you outside to help him down the stairs,” Clint addresses as he and Phil go to grab some last minute day essentials. 

Each boy takes the directions with ease as Bucky begins to help the boy lace up his shoes. Eventually the two adults are exiting the house and Phil is the one lifting Tony from the wheelchair as Clint folds it up to put in the car. The booster seat was set up in the middle, since it would allow for Bucky and Steve to not have to be on top of one another, and Bucky was able to help situate Tony into his seat. After a quick check that everyone was good and had everything, the five were on their way to school. Both Steve and Bucky could feel the nerves radiating off the boy, however, aside from some knee pats and silly questions there wasn’t much to do to distract him.

After what felt like forever in Tony’s mind, the group arrived at the school. At first glance, Tony notices it to be much smaller than his old school even if he took away the dormitories. However, like his current home he prefers the smaller and quainter building. Before he can analyze the school too much Phil is helping him from his seat and into the wheelchair while Clint says goodbye to the older two.

“Alright, T, we’re gonna go visit the principal to get you all set up,” Phil explains as they make their way past groups of students and into the building.

When the men don’t receive a reply they look down to the young boy only to notice him intently looking down at his lap while fiddling with his fingers. Clint runs a hand through the boy’s hair to try and help calm him, but it does little to none which causes the men to simply sigh. As they arrive in the administrative office, Phil checks them in while Clint continues to try and help the boy to relax because his anxiety seemed to skyrocket the second they entered the office. Before anything can be spoken, though, the door marked  _ Principal _ was opening revealing a man dressed to the nines with an eye patch covering his left eye.

“Ah one of my favorite and one of my least favorite men,” the man greets while extending a hand to each.

“You know Nick, let me just start off by saying  _ rude _ ,” Clint says with a roll of his eyes as he shakes the hand.

“Good to see you, too, Nick,” Phil says at the same time which causes his husband to glare a bit, only for it to disappear when he hears the faintest giggle from Tony. “Nick, this is Tony. He’s the newest addition we were telling you about.”

The man Tony has come to know as Nick crouches to be level with Tony before placing a firm hand in front of the boy.

“It’s nice to meet you, Tony,” the man greets in what Tony would categorize as gentle but also serious.

“I-It’s nice to meet you too, sir,” Tony replies back– cursing himself for his slight stutter– while shaking the hand.

“Come in, let’s talk,” Nick leads as he walks behind his desk. “So, Tony, as you may have come to gather I am the principal here at the school but I am also good friends with your guardians. With that being said, I would first like to clarify that I occasionally do go by your home where you’re allowed to call me Nick but on school grounds I am Principal Fury.”

“Understood, sir,” Tony replies, making a mental note that he should probably always stick to the principal title unless he notices Steve or Bucky call the man something else...and even then he may need to verify again.

“Very well. Now, why don’t you tell me about yourself.”

Tony freezes for all but a second as he looks towards Clint for guidance but the man only gives him an encouraging nod.

“Um, my name’s Anthony Stark, but- but I like to be called Tony and I’m 8 years old. I used to go to Hillside School in Massachusetts, uh, I like science and building stuff,” Tony wraps up, not really sure what else to say.

“Are you from Massachusetts?”   
“No, I’m from New York, sir. I went to boarding school.”

“Hmm, now I’m familiar with this school, but appease me and can you tell me what grade you were in when you were attending there?”

“I was in 6th grade, sir,” Tony replies only to immediately cut his gaze to Clint who had just started to choke on water.

“Boy genius here, huh. Well, Tony, I don’t doubt you’re very intelligent and could keep up with our 6th graders, but in this school we don’t like pushing students forward this much as it doesn’t give them the same chances to make friends. Because of that we would have you in 4th grade here which is technically still a grade above where you should be placed age wise. Is that okay?” Nick asks the boy.

“If you say that’s the rule, th-then- then I’m okay with it,” Tony stutters.

Nick is going to comment about that but when he receives a slight look from Clint and Phil he chooses not to and instead decides now would be a good time to introduce them to his future teacher.

Phil and Clint are happy to see the boy’s teacher is the same one all three of their boys has had previously, and they feel like for once they may end the school year with the teacher liking them. The meeting was short and to the point, but really they just wanted Tony to see everything so he wasn’t going in totally blind as well as so they could explain some of his medical issues. But now they’re exiting the school, making their way to the car, so that they can meet up with Bruce at an earlier time than after lunch.

Similar to how the day had been going before, Tony is silent during the car ride. Phil and Clint each try to get the boy to talk a bit, but they’re met with rehearsed and ungenuine answers. Eventually, though, they pull into the office where Tony seems to just get more tense.

“Buddy, hey, listen. This isn’t meant to be scary, alright? Bruce was nice yesterday, right? You liked him? Well, he just wants to help you as much as we want to help you,” Clint coos while lifting the boy onto his hip– deciding right now is not a wheelchair adventure.

“Lotta people today,” Tony mumbles into Clint’s shoulder.

“Huh, I guess we have thrown you in front of a lot of new faces today. I’m sorry if that’s overwhelmed you, bud, but next time tell us when you first start feeling overwhelmed. We could have made the classroom visit another time.”

As Tony nods the men take is as the best they’re getting so they make their way into the office. They greet the familiar front desk lady, but before they’re even seated Bruce is walking out to greet them.

“What’s up Tony! Long time no see, huh?” Bruce says with a smile. “C’mon in guys.”

The first twenty minutes of the session deal with Bruce explaining to Tony what he does and the overall point of why Phil and Clint are having him come to him. He doesn’t tell the boy what he needs to do but he does tell the boy that everyone expresses emotions differently so if he’s not into talking they can find another solution. Eventually, though, Clint and Phil leave which causes Tony to wring his hands up and down against his thighs as a form of distraction.

“You alright, Tony?” Bruce asks kindly.

“Yeah,” Tony replies quickly.

“You know it’s okay if you’re not, right?” When he receives silence in reply he continues. “So tell me how has it been transitioning from city life to rural life?”

“S’cool, lotta open yards,” Tony mumbles. “My old school had a lotta open yards too.”   
“Did it? D’you get to run around a lot? I have a suspicion when you’re not confined to a wheelchair you’re quite active.”

“I-I like moving around, b-but never got to play outside too much. Robotics and physics were really time consuming.”

“Oh so you like to build stuff?”   
“Uh, yeah, yeah I guess.”

“It’s nothing extreme but I’ve got some boxes of Legos back at home that I can bring to our next session. We can try to build the model while we talk if you’re interested in that stuff?”

“Um, yeah that sounds fun. Um, Dr. Banner, I thought- I thought the point of therapy was that I had to tell you my feelings and what’s wrong with me or why I’m sad or quiet,” Tony asks confused.

“Do you want to tell me how you’re feeling right now? Or why you’re sad?” Bruce asks in a tone so genuine Tony nearly blurts out everything.

“Well, no, not really but I will if I have to.”

“Tony, eventually I think it’ll be good to talk about those things, but those topics come easier to speak about when you trust the person. I would be crazy if I thought you fully trusted me after one barbeque. I’m never gonna tell you not to tell me things, but I feel like you might enjoy us just getting to know each a bit the first couple times we meet. We can talk about anything at all while we play some games. Or we don’t have to talk at all if that’s what you want. This is just for you, Tony.”

It takes a couple minutes for Tony to process that before he’s asking Bruce what grades and school Rhodey and Happy are in.

* * *

The remaining time with Bruce goes smoothly, and Tony actually ends up becoming a bit more chatty than he had been previously. The three get lunch together, make a stop at the local library cause Tony mentioned he missed reading, before making their way back to the school to pick up Bucky and Steve. The two boys enter the car laughing and immediately go into a story telling spree of their entire day.

Tony listens intently to everything the older boys say, and only speaks up when they ask what he did today. Rather than going into story mode like they did, though, he just shows the book he got at the library and says it’s his favorite.

Upon arriving home, the three older boys begin their homework while Tony sits beside them speeding through his book– Phil noting they may need to start checking out more than one at a time. As those four remain downstairs, Clint is upstairs putting away some freshly washed clothes. As he gets to Tony’s room he notices two things within the boy’s drawers. First off, he is just remembering that the boy’s possessions are limited as the butler from his previous home was only able to compile one duffle bag of miscellaneous items. He noted that they’d have to start pulling down more of the boy’s old clothes or go out to buy him some things. But secondly, upon putting away some of his underwear he noticed a couple pairs pushed to the far back of the drawer, hidden in a wrapped up t-shirt. Upon further analysis of the items he immediately recognized what they were from when– primarily– Steve and Thor were younger. 

_ Goodnites _ .

He slightly frowned at the items, not because it allowed him to confirm that bedwetting was common for the boy, but because Tony didn’t feel comfortable enough to let them know that he has to wear those– if even only on occasion. Sighing, Clint puts the items back into their hiding spot, finishes putting away the clothes before making his way downstairs where the boys are now done with homework so Steve and Bucky go play outside while Thor watches some new game tapes his coach gave him to study with Tony sitting quietly at his side.

Clint smiles at the sight, Thor’s use of sports jargon going right over Tony’s head, before walking into the kitchen to tell his husband what he had discovered. Phil expressed a similar feeling, however, also gave insight that Tony may feel the need to hide this because he got in trouble for them in his old living situation based on the way they were attempted to be hidden. Regardless of the reason, though, they decided bedtime was when it would be discussed. 


	7. Chapter 7

Nothing drastic or noteworthy happened during that evening. In fact, it actually turned into being a really nice night. Eventually Bucky and Steve came back inside and they decided to show Tony the basement area which holds just about any game or activity a kid and/or teen could desire. Dinner went smoothly with everyone before finally Clint and Phil deemed it to be the little boy’s bedtime, meaning it was time for them to discuss some things. Phil was the one to help the boy get ready tonight, but by the time he was ready to be tucked in Clint was already sitting on the edge of his bed.

“Hi, bud, so before you go to sleep we just wanted to talk to you for a bit,” Clint says, receiving a small nod from Tony in turn. “So, first off, how did you feel going to Bruce today? Do you think you’ll be able to do this weekly?”   
“Yeah, I liked him. He- he said he would bring Legos next time I go visit,” Tony says with a beaming smile, causing the adults to smile.

“That’s great, bud! Bruce has some pretty cool Lego sets, too,” Phil says while smiling. “The other thing we wanted to talk to you about it a bit more serious. Nothing bad, we’re just a little concerned.”

Tony curls into himself a bit as he looks up at the two older men while giving them questioning looks. 

“Buddy, I was putting away some laundry earlier, and I found some things pushed to the back of your underwear drawer,” Clint states softly, though, Tony’s face immediately goes pale. “We’re not mad about it sweetie, but why were you hiding the Goodnites?”

“Th-They’re-they’re not mine,” Tony mumbles, small tears forming in the corners of his eyes.

“Tony, like like Clint said we’re not mad about it, we’re just confused and a little concerned. It’s okay if they’re yours, but we just need to know are these something you used to wear often?” Phil asks now.

“No they-” But Phil decides to cut Tony off.

“Tony, I don’t want you to lie to us. I  _ promise _ you it’s okay for them to be yours, we just want to know. Like the booster seat, it was so helpful for you to tell us that you needed one sooner rather than later. Now, do you think you can talk to us?”

Tony sniffles a couple times as he rubs fists into his eyes before looking towards the men.

“Jar-Jarvis used to have me wear the-them because I had lots of acc-accidents,” the boy hiccuped. “But-but Obie would get mad cause-cause he said they’re only for babies, and-and he’d throw them away a lot, too. Jarv, only had a couple to give m-me to pack before leaving.”

Phil and Clint were quick to console the child as he began to get more worked up upon mentioning the man who abused him so brutally. Eventually, though, the boy was back to just occasional hiccups.

“Honey, thank you for telling us the truth, and I just want you to know that Obie was wrong. The Goodnites aren’t only for babies, in fact there’s no intention for babies to use them. They’re meant for kids like you to use for as long as you need, which I’m sure won’t be much longer. You’ve just been really scared these past couple of years, so it’s completely understandable why this Jarvis man may have thought you’d benefit from them,” Clint coos. 

“Sweetie, I know you may not like it, but do you think it would be a good idea for you to go back to these? On a more consistent level than before I’m assuming? No one here is gonna laugh or tease you about it, but I think this may be better than having to wake up with wet PJs every morning, huh?” Phil says this time.

Tony hesitates a bit, rubbing his eyes once again before nodding his head. “B-but only at night? I-I won’t have to wear them to school, right?”   
“Never buddy. Just for bedtime and maybe if you plan to take a nap. Sound good?”

When Tony once again nods, Clint makes his way to the drawer and pulls out one of the items while making a mental note to pick some up from the store in the morning. He helps situate the boy into his new undergarment before kissing his cheek and tucking him into bed.

* * *

As the week continues on, Phil and Clint can clearly see the flusteredness and embarrassment Tony feels each night and morning due to his newly required apparel, however, they’ve decided the best way to deal with it is to not bring it up. Well, aside from at the very beginning of the morning when one of the men tries to convince Tony to be honest with them about his morning outcome.

Aside from that, though, the week has gone over better than either adult could have expected. The once present animosity between their two 14 year olds and Tony has dwindled into just about nothing. Sure, they’re not best friends or acting like brothers yet, however, no one’s needed to run away from dinner again and there haven’t been more spilled tears. Bucky has definitely taken being warmer to the boy than Steve has, however, progress is progress. Thor on the other hand has fully made it his goal to get Tony to love football. He even had Clint pick him up from practice one day– something the boy  _ never _ does– just so Tony could see the field, meet the team as well as the coaches. Clint could tell Tony wasn’t all that interested in football, however, his bright smile and small giggles every time Thor talks to him about the game has made the older boy think otherwise.

With Friday now arriving, the newly established morning routine went into action with Phil helping Tony get ready for the day, the boys get dressed for school, all while Clint makes breakfast and prepares the boys lunches for the day. Soon everyone is downstairs eating before Thor is beckoning Steve and Bucky to be ready in the car within 5 minutes. And then just like that the morning becomes quiet and calm all over again.

“T, we’ve got your doctor’s follow up appointment today, so we’re gonna have to leave soon since it is a bit of a ways away,” Clint says as he begins to put away some of the dirty dishes.

“There’s not a closer doctor?” the boy asks curiously, still eating his plate of breakfast.

“There is, but since you had surgery your surgeon wants to make sure everything is looking okay and if she clears you to get a cast on today then we’ll be able to do your next follow up with a closer doctor,” Clint explains with a smile.

“Did you finish your latest book from the library already?” Phil asks before smiling at Tony’s beaming nod. “Well, if we leave now we can stop by the bookstore and you can pick up the next one in that series so you have something to keep you busy while we’re at the doctors.”

When Tony is quick to express his interest in doing that Clint and Phil can’t help but laugh before wrapping up a few more things and piling into the car.

* * *

“Alright, so let’s start from the top of your extensive list, shall we,” Dr. Serra teases to the young boy as she enters the room the three had been brought into just shortly ago. “So your ribs, from a general feel, seem to be doing better. Ribs take about 4 weeks to heal so you need to continue to ice them occasionally and do those breathing exercises while also no physical activity, but based on your current predicament I don’t think we need to worry about that. Your arm looks good after resetting it in place. No tingling in your fingers?”

“Only when I first wake up,” Tony says as he moves his fingers about.

“Alright, that’s completely normal. I’m saying we keep this in a cast for another 2 to 4 weeks, but we’re gonna change it from being a soft cast to a hard one today that way you’re able to use both your arms now– for the most part. As for your ankle, it seems to be healing well. The incision looks good, and there’s no extreme swelling going on. I think we’re also gonna be able to put this into a cast, but I want to do an aircast boot because I don’t want to restrict the incision too much.”

“Oh, wow, this is great. So everything actually looks like it’s doing good?” Clint asks in astonishment because he really thought the doctor was gonna find something wrong still based on the bruises that are still littering– though faded– Tony’s body.

“Yeah, no, he looks great. With the aircast I still don’t want pressure to be put on his foot for at least two weeks. I’m gonna transfer you to an orthopedic pediatric doctor closer to your home that’ll be able to monitor his arm and ankle to see when both cast can come off. I think doing a follow up in 2 weeks should be good so he’ll be able to see if pressure can start to be applied to the foot as well as if the arm cast can come off,” the doctor says while smiling. “Do you guys have any other questions or concerns?”

“Actually, yeah,” Clint immediately jumps in. “This past Sunday, Tony had a seizure. It wasn’t long enough that required to take him to the hospital, and with everything that had just happened we decided it’d be best to wait to bring him in since we knew we’d be here later this week. We called our boys’ pediatrician and he said it seems like everything is fine and we shouldn’t be worried, but I don’t know, I am. T said he thinks he’s had them in the past but he isn’t sure.”

“That really isn’t my field to give you a definitive answer, but it is likely the seizure could be a result of the concussion he had. He had one when he was first brought in due to the trauma, but after a neurologist looked at him they didn’t note anything major. I would recommend just being vigilant for now, but if it happens again I would bring him to the nearest hospital to be evaluated. I can leave you with some contact information of colleagues of mine if you would like to do something sooner, though.”

“Can we have the information? I just- I just think it’s something we should look into,” Phil replies this time.

“Of course, I completely understand. I’ll have the nurse give it to you while she helps get you situated with the cast and boot. Have a great rest of the day and safe drive back. Bye, Tony, it was so nice seeing you again and I’m glad you’re doing better this time around.”

“Bye, Dr. Serra, thanks for fixing me,” Tony says while leaning into the side of Clint, shyly trying to cover his face.

Shortly after her departure the nurse came back and set Tony up in his new red cast as well as boot. What made the boy’s eyes really light up, however, was the scooter that came along with his boot for him to prop his leg up on.

“No more wheelchair?!” He asked in excitement which was met by several chuckles as well as a brief confirmation.

* * *

As the three leave the hospital in New York City they stop at a small restaurant to grab some lunch before making the three hour drive back up to Greenwich to pick up Steve and Bucky from school. Tony is quick to fall asleep during the drive which makes Phil and Clint a little nervous because they don’t want the boy to have a breakdown in case he has an accident. However, luck seems to be on their side today because the boy wakes up without any incidents occurring just before they pull into the middle school.

Within five minutes of pulling up to the school a beaming Steve is running up to the car, but rather than taking his usual seat he’s knocking at his dads’ car window waiting for it to be lowered.

“Yes, can I help you?” Clint asks with an amused look.

“Sam got tickets to Yankees versus Red Sox for Christmas and originally Uncle Bruce was gonna take him, Rhodey and Happy, but they both have a track and field meet this weekend so Sam said he’s allowed to invite two friends instead since Aunt Tasha and Pepper don’t wanna go, so can I please go?” Steve rambles out all in one breath.

“First off, breath,” Clint says with a caring smile. “Secondly, is Bucky invited to this as well?”

“Well, he was and he said yes at first, but then at lunch he got weird and said he didn’t want to go anymore but he wouldn’t give us a reason.”

“Alright, that’s alright, we’ll talk to him to see what’s up, but we have no problem with you going. How long are you guys going into the city for? Just the day?”

“No, Uncle Bruce got a hotel room, so we were gonna leave just after rush hour tonight that way we could get to the game early tomorrow to watch the teams warm up. And then we’re gonna come back early Sunday, I think Bruce wanted to be back by or before noon,” Steve explained.

“Alright, that sounds fun, baby. Text Sam that we said yes and we’ll drop you off at his house by 5:30. Now hop in the car already cause you still need to pack a bag of clothes, and where’s your brother?” Phil says followed by trying to glance out the window to find their other 14 year old.

“Uhh,” Steve glanced around in confusion before finally spotting him just exiting from the building.”There I see him! Buckaroo hurry up!”

Bucky’s head shot up upon hearing his name being shouted before he begins to pick up his pace a bit and entering into the car.

“Hey dad, hey papa,” Bucky greets as he positions his bag on the floor between his leg. “Hey look at you, Tony, you’ve got some new hardware to rock.”

“I don’t have to use the wheelchair anymore!” the boy states proudly.

“Woah, really?! I thought you were gonna immobile for a lot longer than a week,” Steve adds in as he enters behind the driver’s seat.

“There’s still no walking on his foot regardless of the boot for another two weeks,” Clint clarified because he has a feeling he may need to keep an eye on the small boy to make sure he listens to that rule.

“Well, yeah, but I’ve gotta scooter now that I put my leg on. It’s cool,” the boy smiles childishly.

The rest of the car ride is spent with Bucky and Steve talking about their day before they pull up to the house. Once they’re there, Steve all but bolts inside to start packing up as Tony shows Bucky his newly acquired scooter. The two finally enter back into the house when Thor’s car pulls up because Bucky knows his dad is probably done making whatever snack he decided to make for the day– the lucky winner being bagel bites. As the three eat their traditional after school snack– a small plate being set aside for Steve– Thor clears his throat as he looks to his fathers with an already pleading look.

“What do you want?” Phil chuckles as he grabs one of Thor’s bagel bites.

“So, Heim is having a small, let’s call it a gathering at his parent’s cabin on Lake George this weekend. I promise they know we’re gonna be there, and, like, Heim already said I could drive up with him today and he’ll bring me back on Sunday that way you won’t have to worry about me driving up there early tomorrow and then driving back late at night and–” Thor rambles on in a similar manner to Steve did earlier before Phil cuts him off.

“You can go, Thor,” the man says before the boy could start begging too much. “I do want some check ins, though, so that I know you’re not too drunk the entire weekend. I really don’t want to get a call from Heim at three AM asking at what throw up count he’s supposed to call an ambulance.”

“That was one time and you said you would stop holding it over my head.”   
“It’s not holding it over your head, it’s just simple reasoning,” Clint says this time.

“Okay okay deal. I’ll check in when I get there tonight and then again tomorrow morning, afternoon, and after everyone leaves tomorrow cause only a handful are spending the night. And I’ll text you when we’re leaving on Sunday.”

“Sounds good, sweetie. When are you leaving?”

“He should be here in like an hour. We gotta go to the grocery store before it closes tonight to get stuff for barbequing.”

“Take that gross left over beer you had me buy for when you and the team had a barbeque at the house a couple of weeks ago. We’re not gonna drink it here, so no use saving it,” Phil adds as Thor makes his way up the stairs to pack a small weekend bag.

The two parents look at each other with small smiles before turning to the two boys seated at the kitchen table with mirrored expressions.

“Looks like it’s just us four this weekend, boys!”


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Bucky backstory

Phil can’t help but smile as he looks out the window by the front door. The site of Tony scootering himself around the driveway chasing after Clint has his heart swelling in adoration but also in pride that this new little boy has been able to open up his closed off self so quickly. He watches the two for a few more moments before turning towards the living room where he can only sigh upon seeing his second youngest.

Bucky is situated on the couch, legs curled up underneath him, as he absentmindedly watches something off of Netflix. Since arriving home from school, Heim volunteered to take Steve to Sam’s house before he and Thor left to Lake George, and though everyone offered for Bucky to join one last time the boy was adamant on staying home. Phil can’t help but give the boy a sad look as he notices the distant expression on his face but also the present irritation which the man guesses is coming from the prosthetic limb based on the way Bucky keeps scrunching his shoulder and neck together. The man wordlessly makes his way over to the couch and settles himself down next to his son before gently placing an arm around his shoulder and pulling him in for a light hug.

“How’s my Bucky bear doing?” Phil coos while kissing the boy’s temple lightly.

“Ugh, Pops, stop calling me that,” Bucky laughs with a light shove, though he still leans into the hug. “I’m fine though, just tired I think.”

“Yeah? Come let’s take off your prosthetic. It seems like it’s bothering you, plus we can take a little nap before Dad and T come back in asking for dinner.”

Bucky was hesitant for a moment about allowing his father to take off his prosthetic, but in the end allows for the man to unscrew it only to be immediately pulled into a more comfortable, laying position. The boy can’t help but lay more onto the side where the missing limb should be in a means to hide what isn’t there. If Phil notices he doesn’t say anything, and Bucky can’t help but be grateful for that.

The thing is, regardless of how long Bucky’s had his prosthesis, he can’t get used to the fact that he doesn’t have an arm. He doesn’t have two  _ real _ arms. And sure, he guesses he should be grateful that he didn’t lose both arms, but then again he’s fourteen years old and he only has one arm. You can’t tell him to be grateful for that.

He ends up falling asleep thinking about how his life ended up here.

* * *

_ Bucky, or James as he was referred to back then, vaguely remembers growing up with his younger sisters. Three of them to be precise. He remembers them and his mother. But not his father. His father was an asshole, always in and out of the house, but he was home enough to give Bucky’s mother four kids except after the fourth he decided to just bolt. From there that’s when his childhood ended.  _

_ From the young age of 7 he would do whatever he could to help his mom out with things. Clean the house, feed his sisters, and he’d even get money sometimes by shoveling neighbors yards. He did the whole nine yards. But then he remembers coming home from school one day when he was 9 and his sisters weren’t there. His mom said they were staying at their grandmas for the week. Having a  _ girl’s week  _ as she put it when Bucky asked if he could go. _

_ Except all of a sudden that one week turned into two and then three and before Bucky knew it he hadn’t seen or heard from his sisters in over a year. He had seen his mom’s new boyfriend a lot though. And his weird friends who seemed to always have big stacks of cash even though they never,  _ ever _ left his house. He questioned his mom and her boyfriend sometimes but quickly stopped when he learned on good days he’d be answered with a swift slap to the cheek, however, on bad days he’d hate himself for even thinking of the question. _

_ So he stayed quiet. He went to school, stayed as late as he could with whatever free after school activity was being offered, and would eventually sneak himself back into the house and maybe allow himself the opportunity to sneak into the kitchen for food. This worked for a while, but eventually some of the typical house goers began to notice him. And then they began to talk to him. _

_ It was always simple conversation, the type you put up with as to not come off rude, but Bucky put up with it because he was scared he’d end up dead if he didn’t. He dreaded each conversation until one day one guy slid him some money for  _ allowing us to take up your TV time or playtime or whatever kids do nowadays _ as the man had put it. Bucky wanted to not take it, but he hadn’t really eaten in awhile and he knew he could get a lot with that at the 7/11. So he took it. _

_ And then the next day he was given the same amount. _

_ And the next day. _

_ And the next day. _

_ And really it kept happening for over a month before he began to regret ever allowing himself to get comfortable. _

_ The man asked if he could sleep in Bucky’s room one night because the couch was full and he hadn’t had a good sleep in awhile. And, well, this was one of the few people who had been nice to Bucky. Made him feel important. So he agreed. _

_ He has never regretted his naiveness in that moment more to this day. _

_ He went back to quiet ways. Sneaking in and out of the house, sometimes choosing to not even come back to the house just out of fear.  _

_ But one day it’s snowing. And he hadn’t gone home the day before so he wasn’t able to grab his bigger jacket which would keep him much warmer than he currently is. So he sucks it up and makes his way home. Except when he approaches his house all the usual cars are gone and they’re replaced by an unfamiliar one. He quietly enters through the front door only to be immediately picked up and slammed into the wall. _

_ He remembers being asked where his mother is. And then where the money is.  _ Where’s the money? Where’re the drugs? Give us the money and we won’t hurt you. Call your mommy and you’ll be able to get out of this. _ Bucky can clearly hear the mantra that was shouted at him to this day. But the clearest memory of that day is the searing pain felt going through his shoulder blades as the ropes used to tie him up were stretched to lengths Bucky didn’t think were possible. He remembers feeling the ropes get so tight that they began to pierce skin before all the shouting gets even louder and he finally blacks out. _

_ He wakes up he doesn’t know how many days later in an unknown hospital room with unknown doctors who aren’t speaking to him because they can’t say anything until he talks to the police. Even then, though, the boy barely manages to get his words out without falling into a panic attack– unbeknownst to him allowing for the police to establish he was not part of the drug ring. He’s finally told by doctors that his left arm needed to be amputated because the rope pierced the skin and damaged too many vital ligaments and tendons that the arm had gone dead. They luckily were able to repair the damage in his right arm, however, so  _ he should look on the bright side of things. 

_ He stays in the hospital for monitoring for over a month due to the amputation but also his malnourishment. Halfway through that duration, though, he’s told he’ll be placed with Phil and Clint. They know about the abuse the boy went through. They know about the torture. But they don’t know about the man who would give him money every day. And they never will. _

* * *

Bucky finds himself startling awake which ends up waking the dozing Phil. Upon feeling the arms wrapped around him and being slightly disoriented, when Bucky feels Phil move behind him he can’t help but roll himself off the couch and onto the floor.

“Woah, hun, you okay?!” Phil says, now fully awake and moving to help Bucky up.

Except the boy flinches at the coming hands.

As much as Bucky hates himself everytime he flinches, he can’t say it is an uncommon act of his. Regardless of having lived with Phil and Clint for two years, the men adopting him over a year ago now and everything, when he’s caught off guard or is disoriented or is just  _ scared _ he’ll flinch. He’ll always flinch. But what shocks him the most is the fact that Phil and Clint don’t get upset with him about it. Instead they respect his space and tell him to let them know when it’s okay for them to reach out.

“Honey, it’s me, Papa. I didn’t mean to scare you, I just wanted to help you up. Remember we were taking a nap?” Phil says softly, in a voice Bucky hear being used more with Tony than anyone else recently. “Sweets, can I help you?”

“I’ve got it,” Bucky finally manages to speak as he attempts to roll himself over so that he can use his right arm to push himself into a sitting position. Once he’s sitting, though, he does allow Phil to help him back onto the sofa. “Sorry, I-I just forgot where I was for a minute.”

“No need to apologize, sweetie. You alright? Bump anything on the way down?”

“Nah, I’m good. Can you pass me my arm, please?”

Phil sigh as he helps the boy put the piece back on before the two are once again sitting in silence, the only noise coming from the TV.

“Alright don’t hate me but I’m gonna be that dad for a second: Everything alright between the three musketeers? Do I need to have a talk with the S.S. Americas?” Phil asks with a raised brow.

“What?! Pops, no. Why would you ask that? I just got confused right now,” Bucky says, leaning into the further section of the couch.

“I’m not talking about right now, hun, I’m referring to why you didn’t want to go with them to the game. You love baseball! And Steve said you wanted to go at first but then just changed your mind. Did something happen?”

“No, pops, nothing happened,” Bucky sighs, shoulders relaxing a bit even though his face turns downward in a sad expression. “I just didn’t wanna go.”   
“Can you blame me for saying I don’t believe you? It’s Yankees vs. Sox, buddy.”

“Okay, fine, I just- ugh, I just didn’t want to have to deal with the arm and having to travel with the arm with Bruce and the looks and the comments and just all of that,” Bucky groans while throwing his head back in exasperation.

“Bud, what do you mean? You’ve traveled with your arm before; you’ve even with it with Bruce before. I don’t get what you mean.”

“Okay yeah but- but I hate it, okay? Traveling with this things sucks. Especially places with metal detectors. Last time we went to a baseball game they made me take the whole thing off and put it through the scanner which isn’t the funnest thing to do. And- And then some guy during the game kept telling me to give the team their bat back. Not to mention all the looks I’d get. And it has nothing to do with Bruce, but he doesn’t like confrontation so he always tells me to just breath but that doesn’t always work.”

By the end of his rant, Bucky’s panting in rage. But he’s also questioning if his reasoning even makes any sense. In all honesty, the longer he talked the dumber he felt and just kinda wished he hadn’t said anything at all or had sucked it up and went with the guys. As if Phil could hear the boy’s internal dilemma, though, he slowly reaches over to pull the boy back into his chest.

“Baby, I’m sorry that happened, and I’m sorry we didn’t know about it sooner. They shouldn’t have made you take off your arm like that, and I’m sorry people are assholes, baby. I know sometimes breathing isn’t enough, but when you can’t hit things and go work out your anger sometimes that the only option you get and I think Bruce realized that,” Phil coos while running a hand through the boy’s hair. “I get why you didn’t want to go today, but I don’t think that experience should stop you in the future from having fun at events like that. We’ll just need to learn to adapt like we always do.”

“I’m sorry I freaked out and started yelling,” he says back honestly.

“Honey, if that’s what you call yelling than we need to work on what your brothers define as talking because those volumes were about the same. You wanna stay here or wanna help me wrangle in dad and Tony cause I’m getting hungry?”

Rather than a reply, though, Bucky just runs outside to join Tony in his game of tag.


	9. Chapter 9

As the evening went on and ended, Phil and Clint are quick to realize the only reason their house is sometimes mayhem is mostly due to Steve and Thor. There were no arguments over what to order for dinner. Selecting a movie to watch seemed to happen easier than anyone expected. And what had to be the men’s favorite part was that they each had a cuddle buddy that didn’t act embarrassed to be sitting in– or practically in– one of the older men’s laps.

Tony and Bucky even got to bond a bit more which had the two fathers beaming as now maybe this’ll get Steve to fully accept Tony as a little brother because even though right now this is “temporary” they have a feeling it’ll soon be more permanent. Bucky entertained Tony by bringing out some of his old Legos that the two could construct together which soon turned more into Tony entertaining Bucky with how fast he could construct the models– sometimes into things they weren’t even meant to be but looked cooler. All in all it was just a good night and then men could only hope it would continue through the weekend.

As Saturday rolls around, the day starts off similar to how the past night’s ended with everything being smooth and non-argumentative, however, life can’t always be easy for the family. As if the men’s work lives decided to coordinate their weekend interruptions, both Clint and Phil’s phones began to ring. The men share a look before each answering only to sigh in annoyance as they glance up at one another yet again before hanging up.

“They need me down at the VA, the psychiatrist on call decided today’s a good day to use their vacation days without any prior notice,” Clint sighs in annoyance.

“And I’m needed down at the office because they need another set of fresh eyes on some evidence ASAP,” Phil replies in a similar manner while pouring another cup of coffee. “Think Pepper is free to watch the boys?”

Just as Phil makes the comment, though, Bucky is entering the kitchen area only to immediately furrow his eyebrows together.

“I’m 14, Papa, I don’t need a babysitter. Especially not Pepper. She’s only two years older than me,” Bucky complains, not even acknowledging his fathers going off to work on a weekend because although it isn’t often, it also isn’t a rare occurrence with one being a psychiatrist and the other being a detective.

“It’s more for Tony than for you, bub,” Phil reasons.

“I can watch Tony, I’m responsible. More responsible than Thor at least and I bet you’d have no problem leaving him to babysit,” Bucky argues.

“Babe, I know you’re responsible. Our first choice as a babysitting between you and your brothers, but with Tony’s arm, foot, and other injuries I think we’d just be more comfortable having an extra set of eyes on him,” Clint tries to explain this time.

“Or a full set of arms maybe?” the boy sneers as he tries to leave the room only to be stopped.

“This has  _ nothing _ to do with that, James, and you know that. Would lifting Tony potentially be more difficult for you? Sure, maybe. But that’s not what we’re concerned about. We’d rather have Pepper watching so that maybe you three could get out of the house and you wouldn’t have to spend every moment making sure he’s okay,” Clint says while locking eyes with the boy. “Once Tony is able to walk on his boot we’ll have no problem letting you babysit, hun, but right now there’s a lot to monitor with him. Too much for just you.”

“Okay, okay sorry. Just call Pepper,” Bucky says while shaking himself out of his father’s grip and leaving the kitchen.

“It’s not worth the fight, babe, just call Pepper and see if she can come over. We can talk to him later tonight if he’s still upset with the decision,” Phil reasons while giving his husband a chaste kiss before going to tell Tony that there’s been a change to the day’s plan and then to go get ready.

Luckily, Pepper was free to come over and watch Tony– and maybe Bucky a bit– and said she could head over almost immediately. So now as Clint and Phil get ready for their unplanned days in the offices, Tony and Bucky remain downstairs watching that one robotics show that has now become a staple in being on whenever Tony is in the room.

The little boy was rather attuned to the show, however, he still felt his glance continuously glancing back to Bucky. He could tell the boy was upset and if he knows anything, it's that you should always be aware what an angry person is doing. Or who they’re looking at. As he glanced back one final time he came to the realization that he doesn’t think Bucky is mad at him for needing Pepper to come over, so he decides it may just be safe enough to speak up.

“A-are you okay, Bucky?” Tony says quietly, not exactly positive that Bucky won’t redirect his anger on him.

“Dad and Papa are just assholes,” he says without changing his expression.

Tony flinches a bit at the word but doesn’t say anything, only nods a bit before extending the TV remote out towards the older boy.

“You can something else. I wanna read my book,” he offers with a small smile which has Bucky smiling only a little bit back.

“Thanks, kiddo,” Bucky says as he grabs the remote and helps Tony collect his book in his lap.

The two sit in silence for a bit– Tony still occasionally glancing up to Bucky just in case– until there’s a small knock coming from the door. Tony looks from the door to Bucky and then back to the door when he sees Bucky simply raise the volume of the TV. Not knowing exactly what to do when he doesn’t hear anyone from upstairs coming down, he places his book down and settles himself onto his knee scooter and makes his way towards the front door.

“Who- who is it?” the boy says into the crack of the door, hoping the other person could hear him seeing as he can’t look out the eyehole.

“It’s Pepper, Tony,” Pepper replies back with a smile on her face because she remembers when her brothers were innocent enough to always ask who was at the door rather than just opening it.

“Bucky am I allowed to open the door? It’s just Pepper,” Tony asks the boy on the couch, vaguely able to hear the chuckle from outside the door. Rather than replying, though, Bucky just raises the TV volume. “Pep-Pepper, am I allowed to open the door? Bucky’s not answering me, a-and-and I don’t wanna get in trouble.”

“Well, babe, I would love for you to open the door for me, but I don’t want to get you in trouble. So just in case how about you call Phil or Clint down to open up? Or to ask if you can open the door?” Pepper reasons with the boy.

Rather than getting a reply she just hears a faint– barely above a normal talking level– “yell” of what she assumes is going up the stairs  _ Phil, Clint, Pepper’s here can I open _ . Of which after a couple of moments is met by the click of the front door unlocking and opening to a Clint with Tony now perched on his hip.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Pep, and thank you so much for coming over so last minute,” Clint says while giving the girl who’s more like a daughter to him a small side hug.

“No worries at all, T here just wanted to be safe. And it’s not a biggie at all, I was home alone anyways,” Pepper says while leaning into the hug. “Hey, Buck, just wanted to freeze me out, huh?”

The boy casts a small glance over but other than that says nothing in reply and goes back to his movie instead which causes Clint to sigh.

“He’s just being a bit dramatic cause he’s upset with me and Phil, don’t take it personal,” Clint says while leading Pepper into the kitchen. “Alright so I’m probably gonna have to be out most of the day, into the night but Phil was hoping to be done within a couple hours. Even if he’s not he’s just gonna bring his work home so that you can get out of here by four and make it up to Heim’s for tonight.”

“Sounds good, any rules? Things I should know? I was thinking of getting out of the house and show Tony around the town a bit more.”

“Yeah that sounds fun, we’ve kept him pretty cooped up here with his limited mobility. Only “rules” are that T has to use the scooter, no walking, he has a booster seat for cars so I can take that out of my car, and he takes one of these with each meal,” Clint instructs as he shakes a bottle of pills. “As for Bucky just don’t let him be a little shi- I mean sheet to you. I mean, you can keep Sam in line so you know how to keep him in line.”

“I’ve got it don’t worry,” Pepper smiles just as Phil enters the room. “Hi Phil.”   
“Hi darlin’, thanks for coming,” Phil says while kissing her cheek and grabbing Tony from Clint’s hip. “Alright, bub, we’ve gotta go, but you’ll have fun with Pepper. I’ll be home by four, so maybe if Bucky stops being grumpy by then we can go out for a movie.”

“You know I can hear you guys?!” Bucky shouts from the living room before walking into the kitchen area.

“Oh you can? I wasn’t sure considering you couldn’t hear the knocking at the door or Tony asking you if he could open it,” Clint says while giving the boy a small raised brow. “We’re teasing right now, babe, but we  _ will _ have a talk if this attitude is still around tonight. Behave please.”

And with that Clint kisses both boys’ cheeks before wishing Phil and Pepper a good day. Phil is soon to follow suit leaving just Tony, Bucky, and Pepper in the living room finishing whatever Bucky had left on the TV. Once it finished, though, Pepper decided to break the tension in the air.

“Alright, I know you’re not happy your parents called in a babysitting Bucks, but too bad I’m here so deal with it. Now we can either stay here and have a boring, gloomy time and give Tony a bad impression of me, or we can go out and have some fun,” Pepper proposes to both boys.

“What do you have in mind?” Bucky questions while Tony looks on in curiosity.

“Well there’s this really cool new escape room place I think would be fun to check out. Doesn’t require too much mobility, and I heard you’ve got quite the head on you, Tony. That sound fun?” Pepper offers. “Maybe get some lunch from Jay’s first?”

“You can’t bring Jay’s into this, that’s cheating,” Bucky states with a goofy grin on his face.

“What’s Jay’s?” Tony finally decides to speak up by asking.

“Oh god how haven’t we shown you this place yet?! Alright, I agree to go for the sake of showing Tony the greatness of Jay’s Pizza!” Bucky says in an exasperated manner. “You wanna go, kid?”

“Yeah I like pizza,” Tony says with a smile which causes Pepper to coo.

“Alright then let’s get you out of the PJ’s, mister! How did you get Phil and Clint to agree to let you stay in them for so long?” Pepper jokes as she lifts the boy and begins to make her way up the stairs, Bucky trailing after her so that he too could get dressed.

* * *

“We should get Jay’s every night!” Tony exclaims in excitement, and neither Bucky nor Pepper are able to hide their smiles of admiration from their faces because this is the most expressive they’ve seen Tony since he’s moved in with them.

“You know, Stevie and I once tried to get them to agree to that for a week and we almost succeeded, so I bet with your puppy dog eyes you could definitely get them to agree,” Bucky reasons as he turns around in the car to look at the boy.

“You and Steve could help,” the boy suggests cutely. “Three is better than one.”

“I can’t argue with that logic. How about this? We start by agreeing to not tell them we went there for lunch that way we can convince them easier to let us get it for dinner, huh? Think you can hold your excitement in for it?”

The boy’s face lights up in excitement before he casts a tentative– almost scared– look towards Pepper as if she’s required to tell Phil and Clint  _ everything  _ they did that day.

“Your boys’ secret is safe with me, I’m not a snitch,” Pepper assures as she notices the look on the boy’s face just as she turns into their next stop. “Now it’s time to get our brain’s working cause we’ve got an escape room to manage our way out of.”

The three make their way into the Escape Room venue, pay their entrance fee before they’re escorted into their Sherlock Holmes themed escape room along with three other individuals– 3 teen girls who appear to be about Bucky’s age, maybe a year older. The two groups introduce themselves and briefly come up with a strategy just as the timer for their escape begins. Each person begins to look around the room for clues before Tony notices when you switch a light on a message appears in the mirror. From there the group is able to pin together a couple of major clues. 

While everyone works together Pepper can’t help but take a quick photo of Bucky helping Tony put together a small puzzle set which opened up a secret chest. She managed to snap a series of photos ranging from the two boys looking on in concentration, then to Bucky’s face turning to a small encouraging smile, before finally Tony’s surprised, gleeful face is looking up to the boy in hopes for approval.

“Great job, T! This has to be box where we put the code we made earlier for the key to the safe,” Bucky cheers as he passes the chest to the girl who had written down the code.

As the timer marks that they have 10 minutes left to crack the safe, Tony begins to feel the same familiar feeling he felt the week prior when they were out by the pool hosting their BBQ. He plants himself on his scooter a bit more firmly as he notices his fingers begin to twitch if only slightly as he looks up to see if Pepper or Bucky have noticed.

“Peppa’, Buck’e, I don’ feel good,” Tony feels himself slur and just as the two set of eyes are looking to face him the girls crack the safe but Tony also falls from his seat as he begins to convulse in a seizure on the floor.

“Congratulations you helped Sher- oh, my god! Is he okay?! Does he need an ambulance?!” the worker at the Escape Room venue exclaims as she came to congratulate the group on finishing before the timer.

“No! No, not yet,” Pepper exclaims after her initial shock before falling to the ground and helping the boy turn to be on his side. “Bucky, set a timer, and text Phil that we need him to come home. We’ll call in a couple minutes, alright?”

The boy nods, his blue eyes becoming wider and more concerned by the minute as he does what Pepper asked of him. Luckily, they didn’t need to keep the timer on long because within 45 seconds Tony stopped convulsing and within another 15 seconds his mind seemed to un-fog because he immediately looked up to Pepper and Bucky with tears pooling his vision.

“Hi, baby, it’s okay. Just a seizure, just like last week? We’re gonna go home and your Papa and Daddy are gonna call the doctor and you’ll get some ice pops and everything will be fine,” Pepper coos, not even recognizing the titles she had given to Phil and Clint regardless of Tony not calling them by those titles.

“Pep, he had an accident,” Bucky whispers to the girl as he shrugs off his jacket to drape over the boy, which in turn only had the boy’s tears turning to be a bit stronger.

“Shh, shh, it’s okay, baby, it’s alright,” Pepper coos as she wraps the jacket around him a bit more securely before lifting the boy up onto her hip. “Listen I’m sorry I don’t know if you need to do an accident report or anything, but I really need to get him home to his dad. Can we just call in to give you our information if anything?” Pepper states to the employee who had just brought their manager into the scene.

“Yeah of course, just call us in later and we’ll file the paperwork. You sure you don’t want an ambulance?” the manager offers.

“No, no we’re fine. This has happened before,” Pepper assures as she gestures for Bucky to grab Tony’s scooter and her purse.

The three then rush out of the venue and to Pepper’s car where Bucky now joins the boy in the back seat to continue consoling him while also making sure he doesn’t have another seizure. As Pepper begins to– slightly– speed back to the house, Phil calls Bucky’s phone again for the third time to which the boy finally answers.

“Hi Papa,” Bucky answers quietly.

_ “Bucky, what’s going on? I left the office, I’m on my way home, but what’s going on?!” _ Phil asks frantically, though, still calmer than Bucky can imagine how he would sound if he had chosen to use his full voice.

“Uh, w-we were out and Tony had- had another seizure,” Bucky explains while running a hand through Tony’s hair as the boy had managed to cry himself to sleep. “He-he had an accident too and I think he was just really scared, but we didn’t know what to do.”

_ “Okay I’ll be home in 10 minutes, how far are you guys? Can you put your phone on speaker so I can speak to Pepper, too?” _

“Hey, Phil, I’m here,” Pepper says, eyes still on the road.

_ “Pepper, I’m so sorry to put this stress on you, but thank you. How long was he seizing?” _

“I timed it for 45 seconds, Pops,” Bucky replied quietly.

“Yeah he was seizing for 45 seconds and then he wasn’t responsive for another 15 seconds after that. We got him on his side fast, but he fell from his scooter. I didn’t see him hit his head or anything, though,” Pepper adds, not sure if Phil could hear Bucky’s whispers.

_ “Alright, alright, okay. I’ll be home soon. I’m gonna call Clint and hopefully he can get one of our doctors to come to the house to look him over. I’ll see you guys soon.” _

The remaining five minutes of Pepper’s drive go by slowly but right after they pull into the house Phil’s car pulls up as well which has Pepper smiling only slightly as she knows how fast the man had to of been driving.

“Where is he?! Is he okay?!” Phil exclaims, hardly shutting off his car as he runs over to Pepper and Bucky who are both situated next to Tony in the car.

“He’s alright, I think. He cried himself to sleep the first couple minutes into the ride, but he’s been sniffling and stuff so I know he’s still in there,” Pepper says as she moves out of the way so Phil can see his boys.

As the man takes the girls place he can’t help but coo at the sight of Bucky running one hand through Tony’s hair while allowing the other hand– that he typically allows no one to touch– is being held in the griplock of Tony’s arm. Alongside that, though, Tony’s features all just look so innocent in this moment and it doesn’t help that his hand not holding Bucky is perched firmly between his lips.

“Hi, Bear, think you can help me maneuver yourself out from his grip so I can set him up in bed?” Phil coos as he places a gentle hand on his older child’s cheek.

Bucky gives a shaky nod as he gently pries his arm from Tony only for Phil to immediately give a replacement arm as he lifts the boy up in his arms. He coos as he bounces the boy a bit, beginning to remove Bucky’s jacket as well as the soiled clothing, while making his way inside and up the stairs of the house.


	10. Chapter 10

Although the house is quiet, the chaotic energy is loud enough to keep all those not sleeping on a tight edge. The only thing that manages to break them from their trance is Clint sprinting into the house, just barely managing to catch the door before it slams into the wall.

“What happened?!” The man all but shouts as he looks towards his husband.

“Tony had a seizure while they were out of the house,” Phil states calmly, though, the worry is still present in his features. “It was short, and he’s sleeping now. Everyone’s fine right now. Did you call the boys’ doctor?”

Clint can’t help but let a sigh of relief out while running a hand down his face, “I called one of the numbers Dr. Serra gave us, they said they could squeeze Tony in today, if we can get there by four.”

“Alright, well call them back and let them know we’ll be there,” Phil says as he turns to Pepper. “Thank you so much for all your help today, again, Pepper. And I’m sorry to put all that stress on you. I hope we didn’t ruin your plans to have fun”

“Oh god, no don’t apologize. I’m just glad Tony’s doing better and that he gets to see a doctor now. Should I update Thor or leave that for tomorrow?” Pepper replies.

“Leave it for tomorrow. He’s probably drunk and we don’t want you to deal with a drunk, sad Thor,” Phil replies this time as he guides the girl out of the house before turning to his husband who is now seated on the couch, holding on to Bucky. “You don’t have to go back in today, do you?”

“No, no they saw how frantic I was and called someone else in. Why don’t you go get Tony up? Or just bring him down and let him sleep in the car, we should get going.”

Rather than a reply Phil nods as he heads up the stairs.

“Dad, it was so scary just watching him fall like that. Like I was trying to call him and then he just fell and he couldn’t hear me,” Bucky explains while tucking his head into Clint’s chest.

“I know, baby, I know. But you did so good at helping him and just let him hold onto you the whole car ride home,” Clint says while kissing the boy’s temple. “I think you can officially claim a big brother badge now.”

“Shut up, I take more care of Steve and Thor than they do. Without me they’d still believe it rains every morning and that’s why there’s dew on the grass,” Bucky grumbles with a small laugh.

“You’re not wrong there, babe. Do you want to stay home or do you want to come with us to the doctor? Or do you want one of us to stay at home with you?”

“Can I go with you?”

“Of course, go get your shoes and a sweater. It’s colder than usual outside today.”

So as Bucky runs to grab a sweater from their mudroom by the front door, Phil emerges from the stairs where a pajama clad Tony is perched on his hip arm barely wrapped around the man’s neck with how asleep he appeared to be. Clint, of course, couldn’t help but coo at the sight along with approaching the two to get a good look at the boy for himself to make sure he was okay.

Upon determining that he was in fact alive, the three join Bucky out by the car as the make their way into the more city part of their town to get to the doctor’s office. It’s a quiet ride and Tony remains sleeping all up until they arrive at the doctor’s office, to which he rubs his eyes and looks around the whole car in confusion because last he fully remembers he was at the escape room joint.

“Bucky?” Tony mumbles out when he notices the boy seated next to him.

“Hey, Tones, you’re up. How are you feeling, bud?” Bucky says as he offers a hand out to the boy to which the boy easily grabs ahold of.

“M’tired, ‘n fuzzy,” Tony mumbles just as the door beside him opens up.

“Well, hello, sweetie, good morning,” Phil coos as he reaches out to run his hand through the boy’s hair. “How we doing, sweets?”

“M’tired,” Tony repeats as he looks to face the older man. “N’ fuzzy.”

“Fuzzy, hmm? I don’t know what that means, but the good thing is Dr. Serra gave us a list of head doctors so maybe they’ll be able to make things less fuzzy,” Phil says as he begins to unbuckle the boy and lift him from the car.

“Doctor?”

“Yeah, bud, do you remember earlier at all when you were out with Bucky and Pepper? You had another seizure, so we thought it’d be best to get someone to take a look at you to see if there’s anything we can do to help.”

“Oh,” is all Tony mumbles before resting his head on the man’s shoulder as they make their way into the office where Clint is already talking to the receptionist, getting Tony all checked in.

The men didn’t even have a chance to sit down as they were being escorted into a backroom just after Clint gave Tony’s name. So the four waited patiently in the examination room. Phil holding Tony in his lap, rubbing the boy’s back and leaving a kiss to his temple every so often, while Clint and Bucky occupied the two other seats– the latter leaning more into his father than he would later admit. They didn’t have to wait too long as soon enough the doctor whom Clint had spoken to was entering the room with a gentle smile.

“Mr. and Mr. Coulson, it’s nice to meet you, I’m Dr. Sargii,” the man said with a smile as he extended his hand out to the now two standing men. “And which one of these two is Anothony?”

“This little guy is Tony,” Phil says while bouncing the boy up a bit. “This is our other son, Bucky, he was out with Tony when he had his seizure today.”

“Well, it’s nice to meet you both. Now, let’s cut to the chance shall we? I can have you guys present all of his available medical records and anything that you guys have come to notice since he’s begun living with you, but in the end the only way we’ll be able to get an actual diagnosis is with a brain scan through an MRI or CT as well as I would recommend we do an EEG.”

“Okay, yes, whatever needs to be done,” Phil says immediately.

“What’s the difference between the two? Like will one show something the other doesn’t?” Clint replies at the same time.

“The MRI or CT scan, whichever you choose, will give us a structural look at it all. Based on what I’ve been told, he has endured quite a bit of trauma so that could be the triggering factor of all of this. Like, late symptoms to a concussion. The EEG, however, would help determine if he’s epileptic. I would like to do both because he may have some late concussion symptoms, but based on your saying he never hit anything before he started seizing it seems it may be leaning more towards epilepsy.”

With that, the two men gently coo Tony into a more conscious state before explaining to him that he needs to get a couple more tests done. While the men weren’t allowed to stay with him during the MRI scan, they were allowed to be in the room where they could watch him go in and talk to him throughout the whole process. Luckily, they were able to sit with him through the EEG because the boy did  _ not _ like the flashing lights they were projecting as him along with the hat he had strapped around his head. After being in the office for about two hours, though, they were finally given the  _ almost _ confirmed diagnosis that Tony was in fact epilepitc.

“Now this isn’t the end of the world. Epilepsy is highly manageable, although it will be scary at times as you’ve come to learn. Here’s a prescription for medication he’ll likely need to take everyday for the foreseeable future. It typically takes two weeks to become functional, so if he has another seizure within those two weeks don’t freak out. Keep me and my office updated, but you likely won’t have to bring him back in until our follow-up in a month,” Dr. Sargii says.

“Thank you so much, for everything really. We’ll pick this up on our way home,” Phil says once more as he and Clint shake the man’s hand once more.

Soon enough, the four are back in the car, only making a pit stop at the pharmacy before they’ve arrived home– all completely drained from the day.

* * *

It’s the next morning when Clint realizes how exhausted they all were, that the four of them ending up falling asleep on the various couches in the living room– with Tony managing no accidents throughout the night. With the realization that Steve and Thor would be home probably within the next hour or two, Clint chose to make a proper breakfast feast which slowly but surely got Phil, Bucky, and even Tony to rise from their sleep.

“I’m sleepy,” Tony mumbles as Phil places him in a sit at the table.

“I know, baby, you can have a nap later. But for now let’s get some food in your belly so that you can take your new medicine,” Clint says while kissing the boy’s forehead and leaving a plate of food behind along with the series of pills– along with the newest addition– he needs to take. “You’re almost done with most of these, babes, after tomorrow all you need is the one we got yesterday and the nutritional one.”

The morning remains quiet for the most part from there all up until the two fathers hear the sound of two cars pulling up the driveway, meaning that both of their kids are back from their weekend of craziness. Not even a moment later and the sound of stampeding feet are racing to the door followed by what could be a fight to unlock it or just a general fight. Deciding he doesn’t want another day spent in a doctor’s office Clint opens the door for the two, leaving them to fall through the door in a giant heap.

“Well good morning Dumb and Dumber, have a fun weekend on your quest to Aspen?” Clint asks with an amused smile as he sees Bruce get out of the car.

“Dad, I was in upstate, what are you talking about?” Thor asks in a confused manner.

“Forget it. There’s breakfast on the counter, say hi to Papa first!” Clint shouts as the two run off before greeting his friend. “Hey Bruce, how were the menaces?”

“Not terrible, actually. Didn’t attempt to curse out too many people at the game, you know,” he laughed with a shrug. “How were things here? You know we would have loved to have Buck with us, all good there?”   
“Yeah, yeah it’s all good. Apparently, last baseball game he was at they made him take the prosthetic off and put it through the metal detector, just didn’t want to do that again,” Clint explained.

“Shit, yeah I get it. How about Tony? All good there? Talked to Pepper last night and she said there was a bit of a scare.”   
Clint can’t help but run a hand over his face in exhaustion from that while giving a soft nod, “Yeah, he had another seizure while Pep was watching him. The three of them were out and Pepper and Bucky had to handle it all until me and Phil got home from work. Spent the rest of the day in a doctor’s office getting scans and tests done, but we got the diagnosis that he has epilepsy.”

“Well it’s better to know earlier rather than later. And if you and Phil need to catch up on some sleep ever, you know you could send all the kids our way. We’ve all been there,” Bruce says with a smile.

“Thanks, Bruce, we’ll let you know. Also I think Phil is set to bring Tony over to your office tomorrow right?”   
“Yeah that’s what the schedule says.”   
“Alright, well we’re thinking he does a half day of school tomorrow, so he may be going to you a bit more overwhelmed then last week.”   
“We’ll work it out when we get there, have a good day with the family, Clint. Tell Phil hello!”

And with that the two men parted and Clint reentered the kitchen where Steve was telling Phil and Bucky all about the game whereas Tony sat half asleep on Thor’s lap as the older boy consumed an ungodly amount of food while half listening to his brother’s story.


	11. Chapter 11

As Monday rolled around, it’s safe to say that no one in the house really had a restful weekend, so getting out of bed was much harder than normal. On top of it being a busy weekend, though, the fact that Tony would be going to his first day at a new school is not something that had been overjoyed about the night prior. 

Now of course, Tony didn’t reject the idea of going to school because the boy was still too shy to not agree with what Phil and Clint proposed, but they could see it on his face. The second they mentioned the idea, the fear in the boy’s eyes returned before being pushed away with the young one nodding in acceptance. There was plenty of reassurance that the day would be fine, but really the only thing that got a positive reaction from the boy was when he was told he’d only be in school till just before lunchtime.

So now the household is rushing to get ready with all the typical morning drama.  _ Where’s my shoe? Where’s my homework? Do we have coffee? _ Were being shouted throughout the house just up until finally everyone was out the door and into their designated car. Only then were Phil and Clint able to breathe a bit even though they know the hard part is getting Tony to not look like a scared puppy when he gets to his classroom.

“So, Tony, do you know who your teacher is?” Steve asks the boy, trying to help settle some of the nerves in the air.

“Uh, I think Mr. Schaeff?” The boy says with a quirked head as he looks towards Clint for confirmation.

“Yup, you’ll be with Mr. Schaeff. He had Steve and Thor in fourth grade as well,” Clint says with a smile.

“Yeah he did, I had detention like once a week with him because he kept treating me like Thor,” Steve huffs.

“He kept a close eye on you in case you had an attitude like your brother did, and he figured correctly. He didn’t give you detentions because of Thor,” Clint points out before looking at the younger boy. “Don’t worry about that, though, babe, I have a feeling he’s gonna love you. He teaches science to the older grades while you guys are in art or computer class.”

“Yeah he’s cool, sometimes a little strict but I like him as a science teacher,” Bucky adds to the conversation cause he figures the boy should feel comfortable with his new teacher.

Tony’s stature relaxes only slightly, but it was enough to make Phil and Clint okay with their decision to send him to school for a half day. The rest of the car ride is finished in silence, however, as they pull into a parking spot Tony can’t help but tense up a bit. He doesn’t have much time to react though before Phil is popping his head through the open door and extending his arms outward to help the boy out of the car and adjust himself onto his scooter.

“Bye Dad, bye Pops! See you later,” Steve shouts as he settles his backpack over his shoulders before casting a quick look to Tony. “You’re gonna have a lot of fun today, T, and if you don’t you can always do me a favor and get me out of class!”

At the comment Tony can’t help but crack a smile that has Phil and Clint beaming internally.

“Yeah and I’m here, too. You’ve got nothing to worry about at all,” Bucky adds as he nudges the boy’s shoulder a bit. “Bye Papa, bye Dad!”

And with that Bucky and Steve walked off towards the front of the school where Clint and Phil could see Sam waiting for them. When it was just the three of them left Phil gently placed a hand on Tony’s back before they also made their way into the school. Phil continues to keep a hand on the boy’s shoulder throughout their time in the hall until they finally approach the office they had visited the week prior. Upon having the noise end, it appears Tony became significantly calmer which once again helped settle some nerves.

“Well, well, Tony you’re looking like a million bucks compared to the last time we saw each other,” one Nick Fury remarks as he catches eyes with the three. “Are we excited to go back to school?”

“I guess,” Tony shyly mumbles while looking up towards the man.

“I think we’re a little nervous, but that’s normal. We’re just gonna try for half a day to help settle back into things,” Clint explains to the man who nods in understanding.

“I completely agree, it’s gonna be a gentle transition. No one’s getting thrown into open water on my watch,” Nick says while crouching down to be more on Tony’s level. “Shall we go meet your class?”

Tony gives a shaky nod as the four leave the office and head down the office. They approach a door they had visited the other week, however, this time there’s a whole class behind the door rather than just the teacher. Tony can’t help but hesitate entering the room further, but Clint just gave him a gentle nudge which was really all he needed.

“Hello, students, Mr. Schaeff, good to see you all,” Nick says as he enters the room after the students had greeted him. “Class we have a new student joining us today, and I like you’d all to give him a nice, warm welcome which I know you’re all very capable of doing.”

The teacher is quick to give Tony a big smile before shaking Phil and Clint’s hands. A few words were shared amongst the adults before Clint and Phil were wishing the boy a great day and promising him that they’d be there to pick him up by noon. Next thing Tony knows, the two men plus Principal Fury are exiting the room and Mr. Schaeff is pointing out a seat for Tony to take. 

“Alright everyone, let’s take out our history books so we start a new chapter!”

* * *

The school day is going better than Tony expected. He wouldn’t say he’s having a  _ great _ time, however, he’s not having a bad time. A few people have talked to him to explain where they were in a certain subject or when they had a bit of free time in between switching lessons, and no one’s said any teasing comments.

Yet. 

He is pretty bored, though. He was fine listening through the history and writing lesson because those were never topics he focused on, however, once they got to math he couldn’t help but sigh. He had learned division years ago. He could do long division with his eyes closed even. But he didn’t want to seem like he didn’t care what the teacher was saying, so he pretended to pay attention. He made sure not to raise his hand throughout any of these lessons because he didn’t want others to figure out he had a freaky brain also.

Once the math lesson was over, Tony sighed in relief until he realized the next thing on their schedule was lunch. He hadn’t figured that lunch would be scheduled before noon, so he thought he was safe for a couple days on encountering the awkward moment of walking around the cafeteria with no one to sit with. Alongside that freakout, though, was his nervousness about not having remembered getting a lunch box in the morning, so he really has no clue what he’s even supposed to do during the lunch break.

As the class lines up near the door for Mr. Schaeff to escort them to the cafeteria Tony places himself at the end of the line so his scooter doesn’t hold anyone up, however, he’s gently called back just before he can leave the room.

“Tony, hey, where’s your lunch, buddy?” the teacher asks with a kind smile.

“Didn’t get- uh, I mean, I-I think I forgot it,” Tony mumbles, not wanting to say he wasn’t given one when it was probably his own fault. Phil and Clint had been too nice to him, he probably just didn’t listen.

“Hmm, well, when your big brothers Steve and Thor were in my class they often forgot their lunch, too, so your dads started to just put their lunch boxes inside their backpacks. Do you think it might be in there?”

Tony gives the man a questioning look before going over to his backpack where lo-and-behold a Superman lunch was found. The teacher smiles at the boy as he leads him out of the classroom and catches up to the rest of the class before entering the filled up cafeteria. Since this school wasn’t the biggest, the room didn’t seem super crowded, however, it was loud enough to make Tony feel like there were 500 people around him. As he guided himself through the room he noticed certain tables were filled with his classmates, however, they all seemed pretty full and no one was inviting him over to join them. However, just as he planned to sit at one of the empty tables in the corner he heard someone shout out his name.

“Tony! Hey, Tony!” the familiar voice shouts causing for Tony to look around in confusion before locking eyes with a smiling Rhodey who’s waving him over. “I didn’t know you were starting today! We could have hung out before the bell this morning. Oh, I can’t wait to tell Happy!”

“M’only doing half days for right now,” Tony explains as he slowly maneuvers himself into the seat that Rhodey gestured for him to take. “Maybe we can hangout before the morning bell tomorrow? With Happy?”

“Yeah definitely! We’ve been asking our parents if we can all hangout again constantly but me and Happy were busy this weekend, so maybe next weekend we can all do something! Sam keeps mentioning that he’s having a sleepover with Bucky and Steve to watch the NFL Draft, so maybe we can have a sleepover too! Who’s your teacher by the way?”

“Yeah that’d be fun,” Tony can’t help but say with a shy smile. “M’in Mr. Schaeff’s class.”

“Wait he teaches fourth grade, but you’re eight?”

“I skipped a couple grades in my old school.”

“Oh that’s cool! And well it works better cause now we have lunch together! Fourth and fifth grade always have lunch together, and then when you’re in sixth grade you’ll have lunch with both me and Happy cause sixth, seventh, and eighth graders eat together. When’d you get out of your wheelchair by the way?”

“Last week, I think next week I go back to see if I can walk on it yet.”

“I can’t wait for that! Hopefully you’re all better by summer so we can go swimming all the time and you can come biking with me and Happy into town! Oh, by the way guys, this is Tony, he’s my new friend. He’s Thor’s little brother!”

After the introduction the table begins to talk to the boy a bit, and honestly Tony can’t stop smiling. Rhodey called him his friend. And his friends all seem to think Tony’s alright. And no one’s making fun of him!

Lunch goes by much quicker than Tony had anticipated and soon enough he’s back at his classroom along with his other classmates, however, rather than everyone taking their seats everyone seems to go straight towards their cubbies to grab their bags. No one really told Tony what their day to day schedule was, so he chooses this moment to gain a little courage and approach the few students who already had their bags and were once again lined up by the door.

“Um, wh-where are we going now?” Tony asks, luckily maintaining the volume of his voice regardless of his stutter.

“We have PE now! On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays PE is always after lunch. On Tuesdays and Thursdays we have it the last class of the day, like recess,” a boy with blonde hair says with a smile. “How come you sat with the fifth graders at lunch?”

“Oh, uh, Rhodey’s my friend, and, uh, I don’t know,” Tony says, his shyness beginning to creep back up.

“Woah you’re friend’s with fifth graders?! That’s so cool!” a girl with auburn hair stood beside the blonde boy says. “You should eat lunch with us tomorrow though! Or maybe we could all get a big table! I’m Wanda by the way, this is my brother Pietro.”

“Tony, and ye-yeah that’d be fu- I mean cool, that’d be cool,” Tony says with a smile just as Mr. Schaeff comes over to the front of the line.

“Hey Tony, so you’re getting picked up in half an hour and since you can’t really do physical activity till you’re out of your boot and cast do you mind hanging out in here until your dads get you? I’ve got the eighth graders coming in for science class soon, but you can do whatever you want over at the back tables,” Mr. Schaeff says with a smile as he notices the boy finally talking to his classmates.

“Yeah okay, Mr. Schaeff. See you guys tomorrow,” Tony says as he waves bye to the group of kids he befriended and heads back over to his desk to grab his book.

Tony sees a woman with black hair escort the rest of his class out of the room before slowly a group of much taller students begin to pile into the room. Tony looks over at them as they begin to trickle in, however, soon he’s going back to his book. However, upon hearing another familiar voice that day he finds himself looking back up at the door just as Steve, Bucky, and Sam all come strolling into the classroom. It was Sam who noticed him first and with a quick nudge to the boys next to him soon enough Steve and Bucky have their eyes on Tony as well.

“Hey Tony, whatcha doing in here?” Bucky asks as he approaches the back tables.

“s’PE time and Phil and Clint are picking me up at noon, so Mr. Schaeff said to wait here for them,” Tony half mumbles as he looks up at the three older boys.

“Don’t worry, soon enough you’ll be able to enjoy PE time also. How’s your first day been so far, though?” Steve replies this time. 

“S’been fun, I had lunch with Rhodey!”

“Look at that, it seems like you Coulsons can’t stay away from us Banners,” Sam jokes, which causes both Steve and Bucky to elbow him.

With that, though, the boys make their way over to their seats as Mr. Schaeff begins to address the class. Tony had intended to just finish up his book, however, upon hearing the class discussion on the periodic table he finds himself paying more attention to Mr. Schaeff than he had all day.

“Alright, now, can anyone tell me what noble gases are?” Mr. Schaeff asks as he walks up and down the aisles of students, occasionally flipping people’s books to the right page or confiscating notes being passed. Eventually it’s Bucky that raises his hand. “Bucky, yes?”

“Uh, gases that don’t react with things?” Bucky offers, reading off from his notes.

“Under?” the teacher pushes.

“Under standard conditions, and, um, it’s odorless and colorless.”

“Yes, and can you give me an example?”

“Helium.”   
“Perfect! Alright, so now here’s a bit of an extra credit question: who can name all the noble gases for me? Without looking at your notes!”

All the students go quiet after that. Tony notices some of them thinking– like Bucky– whereas others just zone out, having no clue as to what they’re even being asked– like Sam (and slightly Steve).

“What no one? Guys, you were supposed to have the table memorized for today. Alright, how about this: if someone can name four of the seven elements with their abbreviations I won’t give the class the pop quiz I had planned for the end of class.”

The class is once again silent for what feels like forever before Tony finds himself raising his hand. His teacher is quick to notice the boy so he makes his way over to the back of the room and crouches in front of the boy with a smile.

“What’s up, Tony? Need the bathroom?”

“Uh, n-no, I wanted to answer your question,” Tony mumbles while looking at the man with a hint of nervousness.

“What ques- oh, you mean the one I just asked my class?” 

When Tony nods, the man can’t help but quirk his head in confusion before nodding his head in amusement. The man wasn’t sure what to expect, but it sure as hell wasn’t Tony mumbling off all seven elements perfectly along with their two letter code.

“Well everyone, it looks like my fourth grader just saved all of your butts! Tony, wanna repeat that answer,” Mr. Schaeff says as he walks back up to the front of the class to start putting together a couple papers he wanted the boy to now work on.

“The seven nobel gases are helium which is He, neon Ne, argon Ar, krypton Kr, xenon Xe, radon Rn, and oganesson Og,” Tony says out loud.

As he looks around the room he notices a couple of thankful looks– probably for not having a quiz now– alongside a lot more confused expressions– the most confused being the three boys he had been talking to not too long ago.

Mr. Schaeff goes back to teaching his class a bit more before finally Tony’s being called for dismissal. The boy is quick to grab his bag alongside a couple things he kept in his desk– which just so happens to be the desk Steve is sitting in. The older boy helps him pack up his bag before settling it on the younger boy’s shoulders and telling him he’ll see him later on. Before Tony could leave the classroom, though, Mr. Schaeff is giving him a packet of worksheets that he’s asked  _ to do at his leisure _ before turning them back in. As Tony makes his way down the hallway, though, he’s quick to see Clint waiting for him, and without even registering it he begins to scoot himself over just a bit faster.

“Hey, Champ! How was your first day?” Clint says with a smile as he lifts the boy from his scooter and settles him onto his hip.

“S’lotta fun! I had lunch with Rhodey, and- and I sat in science class with Bucky and Steve cause I couldn’t go to PE,” Tony says, excitement clear in his voice as he finds himself wrapping his arms around the man’s neck.

“Wow, I can’t wait to hear all about your day. Phil’s waiting in the car for us, though, so let’s blow this popsicle stand, yeah?”

Tony can’t help but giggle at the man’s words as he finds himself being carried out of the school and into the car where he’s greeted in a similar manner by Phil. The boy talks happily about his day the entire car ride up until they’re pulling into the familiar parking lot they had been in the week before. At which point Tony’s mood began to slowly become a bit more hesitant– which Phil and Clint were quick to note.

“Nothing to be scared of, bud, it’s just Bruce. You like him, yeah? Plus, didn’t he say he was gonna bring him some Lego’s for you guys to play with?” Phil asks as he lifts the boy from his seat.

“Yeah, I guess,” Tony mumbles as he rests his head on the man’s shoulder. 

“It’s gonna be alright, we’ll be right outside, and then maybe afterwards we can go get a snack before picking the boys up from school,” Clint says just as the boy nods and lets out a large yawn. “Maybe sneak a nap in along the way?”

Instead of replying, though, Tony just finds himself snuggling further into Phil’s chest, thumb subconsciously making its way towards his mouth.

As the three walk through the office doors, similar to the week prior Bruce already seemed to be waiting for them. Not much prodding needs to take place for Tony to release his grasp and follow the older man into the room he vaguely remembered.

“So I am a man of my word and I brought as many Lego sets as my arms could carry!” Bruce states right off the bat. “How about you choose one and we can start building it?”

Tony nods as he looks over all the boxes displayed in front of him. He’s gotta admit, the collection is impressive and he’s excited to have so many to place with, however, that doesn’t really take away the nerves eating at him.

“Can- can we try this one?” Tony asks shyly as he lifts up a Lego Ninjago box.

“Definitely! I’ve been wanting to do that one for awhile!” Bruce says with a smile.

For the first 15 minutes or so, the two of them just begin to look through the pieces as they begin to put a couple parts together before Bruce finally asks how Tony’s doing. He asks about school and how he likes home and all those boring questions, but at the same time Tony’s glad he stuck to just those questions.

“Is Clint a psychiatrist?” Tony asks with a quirked head.

“He is, yeah,” Bruce answers with a smile.

“Then- then how come I go to you to talk? Why don’t I see him?”

“Well, guardians aren’t allowed to be doctors for their kids, especially not psychiatrists. Plus, it’s usually better to have someone you don’t see everyday to talk about problems or whatever you want with.”

“Do Rhodey and Happy go to Clint?”

“No they do not, but Clint mainly works with veterans and adults.”

“Do-do you know what happened to Obie?”

“Is Obie, Obadiah Stane?”

Tony just nods his head.

“I haven’t heard too much about it, but I bet Phil and Clint have heard a little bit about it. Maybe you can ask them about him.”   
“That’s okay, I was just curious.”

“Anything else you’re curious about?”

“Do Dream Catchers work?”

Bruce can’t help but chuckle at the very random spree of questions the boy seems to be going on about, but also knows sometimes this is how kids process seeing a psychiatrist.

“You know, I’ve never actually had one so I’m not too sure. Do you have one?”

“No, but- but in history class we talked about them and then in art class we’re gonna make one! I was just hoping...”

However, Tony’s voice mumbles off at the end so Bruce can’t hear him. 

“Just hoping what, bud?”

“I was hoping they’d help stop my nightmares,” Tony manages to finish that time around.

“Well, you know what? I bet it wouldn’t hurt to try it out. But if that doesn’t work I’m always here to hear about your nightmares if you want. Sometimes you just need to talk to someone about them all.”

The session finishes up shortly after that and Bruce promises to keep the Lego set as is until Tony comes back next week to continue working on it. As Clint and Phil talk to Bruce about setting up a sleepover for this weekend, Tony finds himself being lifted up by Clint once again, and his head once again settles onto the man’s shoulder. It was like all of the boy’s tiredness crept out of nowhere because he was asleep before they even walked out of the office.


	12. Chapter 12

The week honestly goes by in a flash. Tony still only did half days of school for the entire week, but each day when he was picked up at noon by either Clint or Phil they were always met by the same excited expression. The highlight of the boy’s days as the parents were able to figure was definitely each morning when he was able to hangout with Rhodey and Happy in the halls before the bell rang. Apparently the boys’ friend group easily accepted Tony in, however, what made Phil and Clint really happy was that he had managed to make some of his own friends in his classroom as well.

After his therapy session on Monday they had set up that on Friday Happy and Rhodey were gonna come over to the house for a sleepover, while Steve and Bucky went over to the Banner’s for a sleepover with Sam. However, as Thursday rolled around Tony shared that Happy hadn’t been in school. Phil called the family to check in only to hear that the boy was sick which caused Tony to frown at the fear of their sleepover getting canceled. And unfortunately when the boy made his way through the hall on Friday afternoon to be picked up by Clint, he was wearing the same glum expression as he approached the man.

“Rhodey’s sick now, too,” Tony says with his head down, though, Clint could hear the pout on his face before he even lifted him up.

“Oh buddy, I know that sucks, but it’s gonna be okay. We can plan another sleepover for next weekend when they’re feeling alright! We can have fun tonight, though! Thor’s got a scrimmage game tonight that we can go see, and then we can go to Jay’s? We’ll make it fun don’t worry,” Clint says as he kisses the boy’s cheek and walks out towards his car.

By the time the two pull up to the house Tony has once again fallen asleep in the back of the car. Phil and Clint haven’t determined if it’s because he’s eight or a form of symptom from all the trauma he’s endured, but without fail each day this week he’s fallen asleep in the car on the way home from school. Because it’s become a regular occurence, Clint doesn’t even think about his movements as he carries the boy into the house, settles him on the couch, grabs one of the boy’s pull-ups from upstairs and gently situates him into it, before wrapping a blanket around him.

Like most days he sleeps for about an hour before he’s sitting up from the couch, confusion on his face as he attempts to rub the sleep from his eyes. Clint can’t help but coo at the innocence on the boy’s face as he situates him at the dining table to work on some of the worksheets Mr. Schaeff had given him. Which was another thing in itself that Phil and Clint had learned about. They’re not gonna lie, they thought Tony had been a bit dramatic when he said he was in sixth grade in his old school, however, based on some of the assignments he was doing they couldn’t have been more wrong.

It appears that where Tony is moderately advanced in English and history lessons, for math and science he is on near genius levels. He’s completing worksheets that the parents are certain they’ve seen Thor nearly cry over in confusion without even breaking a sweat. It’s as though even  _ these _ aren’t challenging enough for him. This information was obviously brought up to Principal Fury, however, it was decided amongst all parties that Tony should stay in fourth grade, however, when it comes time for science the only things he’ll partake in are the fun experiments they’ll conduct. All other work has been assigned from some of the high school teachers who have even come in a couple days to give the boy a couple of one-on-one lessons. And the same is being done for his math lessons as well.

Soon enough, the afternoon begins to wrap up and it’s time for Clint to pick up Steve, Bucky, as well as Sam now because Tasha and Bruce don’t want to risk all the boys getting sick. So as the three pile into the car, Tony can’t help the small pout form on his lips, however, it disappears quickly when Steve says he can hangout with them and maybe even join their sleepover. Clint doesn’t say anything to the boy sitting next to him in the front seat, but the gentle hand squeeze he gives Steve is enough to show his gratitude.

* * *

“Alright! I’ve got soft pretzels, M&Ms, popcorn, and water bottles! Take your snacks,” Clint shouts as he approaches the group of six– Pepper having joined them for a bit– who are settled on the bleachers waiting for Thor’s game to start.

Everyone is quick to grab the snacks they asked for allowing Clint to take his seat on the edge of the bleacher next to Tony and Phil.

“What’s the difference between scrimmage and a normal game?” Tony asks as he looks up towards Phil.

“Well, the football season is normally in the fall semester. Right now they’re doing their spring training which is just to give an idea of some new plays and training regimens for next year. They have scrimmages in the spring to see who has the potential to be a starter next year. Look Thor’s number 49, he’s the tight end,” Phil explains before pointing out the blonde boy.

“What’s a tight end?”

“It’s a really cool position. It’s a mix between a receiver– someone the quarterback throws the ball to– and a lineman– which is someone who defends the quarterback from getting tackled. Have you ever played football, bud?” Clint explains as he lifts the boy onto his lap.

“Wasn’t allowed to. Obie said my mama didn’t like it, and he thought it would hurt my brain and make me not smart anymore.”

“You’ll always be smart, bub, and if you want maybe when you’re all better you can try it out! I know Thor would love to teach you all about it,” Clint says as he kisses the top of the boy’s head just as the game began.

Tony follows along for the most part with the help of Clint explaining certain rules in the game. As he understands the point more he begins to actually like watching what’s going on, but he doesn’t think he’ll ever be as obsessed as Bucky, Steve, and Sam seem to be especially since they plan to watch the NFL Draft which seems weird and boring. As it nears the end of the third quarter Tony asks if he can go to the bathroom to which Bucky is quick to volunteer to take him since he needs to go as well.

The older boy helps carry him down the few steps before placing him on the ground so he can wheel his way to the bathroom. Bucky is teasingly poking the younger boy in all the recently learned tickle spots the entire way to the bathroom which has Tony squealing in joy as he tries to push himself forward faster. However, the once happy, joking moods soon come to a stop when Tony hears someone shout out at them.

“Hey Robot! Robot! Metalloid! Whatcha ignoring me for!” the voice shouts louder and louder before a hand is being placed on Bucky’s shoulder causing the boy to spin around.

Tony turns too as he tries to hide behind Bucky while still looking up at the boy who had called out those names. He was tall and looked older– maybe Thor’s age or a year below. What Tony was more quick to notice though was the boy was definitely drunk as it seemed he was stabling himself by holding Bucky’s shoulder. That stabilization was quickly removed though when Bucky jerks his shoulder away in a mix of fear but also rage.

“Woah, Robot’s quick! Hey what else of you is metal? Does this thing have WiFi? Oh, maybe I can connect it to bluetooth, do you like Metallica? That’d be fun to play on a robot,” the boy says while laughing to himself.

“Lay off, jerk. Come on, Tony,” Bucky says as he tries to guide Tony away, however, the arm comes back out at him and this time both boys flinch– and not in a subtle way.

“Don’t worry Robot I wouldn’t hurt ya, you’re too pretty to hurt. A pretty boy,” the boy says with a smirk as he reaches a hand out around the boy’s waist.

Tony can see Bucky’s eyes glaze over before shutting as tight as possible. Bucky’s grasp on Tony’s hand isn’t light and comforting anymore but rather it’s tight and scared and Tony swears he can feel the boy’s body vibrating. Before Tony can build up the courage to react, though, a dark skinned girl is charging towards them with a look of rage on her face as she screams at the boy.

“Let him go you fucking asshole!” The girl shouts as she shoves the boy away from Bucky. 

It’s then that Bucky finally opens his eyes again and takes a shaky breath before releasing his grip from Tony’s hand.

“Hey, hey, Tony, you okay? He didn’t touch you right?” Bucky asks in a whisper type voice as one hand rubs at this eyes to remove any moisture that may be there.

“N-n-no,” Tony stutters out. “A-are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine, buddy. Just got a little scared, but nothing to worry about, okay? I don’t need you telling Dad or Papa– I mean Phil or Clint, alright?” Bucky says, though, Tony can tell it’s more of a silent plea.

“I won’t tell,” Tony mumbles as the girl finally stops yelling at the older boy and turns back towards them.

“Hey, you two alright? He didn’t do anything right?” the girl says looking between Tony and Bucky.

“Y-yeah, we’re good, thanks, Val,” Bucky mumbles. “My dads are gonna start to worry if we don’t get back soon though, so we gotta go.”

Bucky doesn’t wait for a reply before he’s guiding Tony back to the bleachers where Clint had just been approaching.

“There you are! I was sent out to look for you, what took so long?” Clint asks as he easily lifts Tony up onto his hip then grabs the scooter.

“Long bathroom line, don’t recommend using it,” Bucky lies out easily, and from the looks of it Clint buys it just as easily.

“Luckily the game’s almost over and then we’ll go pick up some Jay’s to bring home, so no more long and gross bathroom lines!”

* * *

The evening finished up on a quiet note. Thor’s team won, and he was by far the star of the game. He chose to join the team for a bit of an after party rather than joining his family home, but he promised he wouldn’t be in too late so Phil and Clint had no problem with him going out. (It also didn’t hurt that Pepper was going to be with him). They picked up a couple pizzas from Jay’s, and finally they were home.

Clint and Phil can see that Tony is still upset about not having his sleepover, but luckily Steve, Sam, and Bucky have kept him included in their little hangout. The boys all watched the draft for about an hour before turning on a movie instead, and Phil couldn’t stop his heart from swelling when he saw Tony cuddled up on Steve’s lap. The one thing that was keeping him slightly on edge, though, was the way Bucky chose to curl up on the loveseat by himself.

Phil could note a distant look in the boy’s eyes but he has no idea why that may be. Unfortunately, that is not an uncommon occurrence for the boy, however, regardless of how many times Phil, Clint, or even his therapist try to mention it the boy remains silent or pretends he doesn’t know what they’re talking about.

“Wanna help me with the popcorn, baby?” Phil whispers to the boy as he runs a hand through the boy’s hair, just barely ignoring the strong flinch he received.

It takes Bucky a couple seconds longer than normal to recover before he nods and gets up from his seat to help his Papa in the kitchen.

“What’s up with my bugaboo, huh? You feeling alright, baby?” Phil coos as he presses a hand to the boy’s forehead once they’re in the kitchen waiting for the popcorn to finish popping.

“M’fine, Papa, I was just caught off guard,” Bucky replies, though Phil feels the boy press his head ever slightly more forward into his hand.

“Do you think you’re gonna need some daddy and papa time tonight instead of having your sleepover? We can do the breathing and other destressing exercises tonight that Dr. Garcia taught you. I’m sure Steve and Sam won’t say anything if you need to sleep in our room tonight, hun.”

“Papa, stop it, no! I’m fine, I don’t need you babying me! I’m not 12 anymore. I don’t need  _ daddy and papa  _ time!” Bucky seethes out as he grabs the bag of popcorn from the microwave and storms back into the living room.

Clint, who had been in his office, heard the commotion and walked into the kitchen only to see Phil sighing as he leaned against the countertop. Similar to how Bucky becomes distant at times, it also isn’t a rare occurrence for him to lose control of his emotions. 

Daddy and papa time, as Phil had called it, was something the two started when Bucky first moved in with the family. The boy didn’t know how to channel his emotions it caused for him to lash out on Steve and Thor– typically over little things. He had never learned how to express his feelings without rage or actions, so Dr. Garcia– the boy’s therapist– suggested daily relax time. Before bed each night Bucky would sit with Phil and Clint in either their room, his room, or Clint’s office. They would walk the boy through breathing exercises and talk about how to channel emotions healthily when he begins to get overwhelmed. Some nights were definitely better than others, but without fail each night they did it the boy would end up crying.

It was a daily thing for nearly three months before Bucky learned how to not keep all his emotions from the day inside. From there it began to be once a week, then once a month, to which at this point Clint and Phil aren’t exactly sure the last time they needed to help their once (yet still kind of is) baby boy.

“Teenage angst, honey, it’ll be okay. He’ll come to us when he’s ready to talk,” Clint says as he kisses his husband’s cheek.

* * *

The boys invite Tony to join them for their sleepover to which everyone can see the pure excitement on his face. Clint has to practically hold the boy in place as he helps him situate into his nighttime attire– only needing to reassure him once that  _ even Sam _ won’t make fun of his Goodnite if he sees it– before finally sending him off to Steve and Bucky’s room. Clint and Phil finish getting ready themselves before walking into the boys’ room where they see Sam and Steve just finishing lifting both mattresses onto the floor so that the four can all sleep together.

“Alright, boys, if you need anything during the night you know where to find us. Don’t stay up too late,” Phil says as he goes by to kiss each boy on the forehead– lingering on Bucky’s just a little bit longer than the others– followed by Clint doing the same thing.

The boys joke around for a bit, nudging one another and stealing pillows before Tony falls asleep first. This seemed to settle them in for the most part because soon enough Bucky, Steve, and Sam were following suit. Phil chose to check on the four one more time before he went down and couldn’t help but take a photo of the four as he went in one last time to make sure Tony was alright with the older boys. 

The small boy was at the end of the mattress, one hand clutched in his mouth while the other was thrown across Bucky’s torso as if he were a teddy bear. Next to Bucky was Sam and then Steve of which the two seemed to have entangled each other already with Steve’s leg locked around Sam’s and Sam’s arm around Steve– similar to how Tony was gripping Bucky. They seemed to all be sleeping peacefully aside from Bucky who was in a rather stiff position on his back.

Clint frowned at the boy, though, he knows it isn’t uncommon either. He walks over to the boy to run a hand through his hair a few times until the boy’s face becomes a bit more relaxed. After a few more photos, Clint finally leaves the room to join his husband. Completely unaware of the boy’s strong nightmares soon to take place.

* * *

Sam has always been an early riser, but even he knows he’s up way too early right now for a Saturday. He’s not sure what wakes him but as he sits up in the bed he realizes what it probably is. His movements seemed to shake Steve awake, to which the pillow he then threw startled both Tony and Bucky awake.

“Uh, guys, who wet the bed?” Sam states in confusion as he lifts his hand from the wet sheets.

At the statement everyone shoots up from their laying positions and looks around in confusion. Steve is quick to note the very subtle wetness he feels on his far side of the bed as well which causes him to scrunch his nose up because he does  _ not  _ like germs.

“Oh god, I need to shower, like now! It’s on me,” the boy shouts as he jumps from the bed.

On the other side of the bed, Tony feels the breath get sucked out of him as he subtly reaches to check his Goodnite. He notes that it’s wet, however, definitely not wet enough to have leaked and soaked the entire bed to this capacity. It’s when he looks to his left, though, that he sees the look of horror etched onto Bucky’s face as the boy seems to struggle to catch his breath. Tony knew the feeling all too well from these past couple of weeks, so he knew what had to happen to the boy. He knows he would be humiliated if this ever happened with any of his friends, so without even thinking he conjures up all his pent up emotions from the week to try and force tears to his eyes.

“I-I-I’m sorry, m’s-s-sorry,” Tony cries, which has all three heads whipping to the small boy on the far right corner.

Steve and Sam fix the boy with looks of compassion because they figured he was probably still suffering from this all. However, it’s Bucky’s face of gratitude and nerves that really makes Tony feel like he did the right thing.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay, Tony. What’d I tell you? This happens to all of us, it’s alright, buddy. Come on let’s go see if Dad and Papa are awake so they can help us out,” Steve coos as he grabs the boy’s hand and leads him out of the room.

Bucky is still frozen in his spot when Steve takes Tony to his parents room and when Sam leaves to go shower in the hallway bathroom. He can’t believe Tony took the fall for him, but he also knew that it wouldn’t last long. He knew about Tony’s Goodnites having seen them after the boy had his second seizure, so he knows Phil and Clint won’t believe his pull-up leaked across the whole bed. They’d be able to deduce that it had to of been Bucky because of where the majority of the wetness came as well as from the fact that his entire body seemed to be covered in urine whereas everyone else just had small traces of dampness to them.

True to his thoughts Clint came into the room not even two minutes later with a look of sympathy in his eyes upon seeing the boy still sat on the soiled bed, tears pooling– if not falling– from his eyes already.

“Daddy I’m sorry,” Bucky chokes out, all life having been rushed right back into him the moment he saw his dad looking at him.

“Oh, baby, it’s okay, you’re okay. It’s not your fault, honey, shh breathe you’re gonna make yourself sick,” Clint coos as he lifts the boy from the bed, holding him in his arms as he rocks him back and forth. “Shh, Bear, it’s alright, you’re okay. It was just an accident, it happens. What have I told you? It happens to the best of us.”

Bucky can’t hold back his sobs much as he thinks back to what Steve said to Tony when the boy covered for him. It just made him feel even more like a child that he had to be comforted the same way as a– lying– eight year old. Clint rocks him a bit more, rubbing his back and giving gentle pats on his soggy pajama bottoms for a couple more minutes before leading him into the bathroom in his room.

He cleans the boy’s face with a wet rag before helping the boy remove his clothes and settle him into the shower. Bucky doesn’t know how long he’s in there, but Clint’s still waiting for him when he’s done with a warm, fuzzy towel and a gentle smile.

“Come on, Bugga, you’re gonna come sleep a couple more hours with me and Papa. Steve and Sam are sleeping in Tony’s room, and Tony’s in bed with Thor,” Clint coos as he helps situate the boy back into some pajamas before guiding him into his room.

Bucky hasn’t said anything since calling Clint  _ daddy _ which only has the boy blushing even more because really, how much of a child does he want to be considered. Regardless, he finds himself being guided into his parent’s room where Phil is waiting with open arms and a sympathetic look. And even though Bucky was just berading himself for being a child, he can’t help but run into said arms.

“Papa I-I-I-” Bucky stutters as he pushes his face into his father’s chest while trying to hold back the second round of tears.

“Shh, baby, it’s alright. Just calm down and let’s take a deep breath, just like normal, alright? On your back, and look we’re gonna inhale for five seconds and you’re gonna lift my hand on your belly up, good boy. Now you’re gonna exhale for five second and bring my hand back down. Good job, bubba, let’s keep going with that,” Phil coos, allowing for Bucky to clutch onto his free hand.

Clint runs his hand through the boy’s hair as he continues his breathing exercises for another five minutes before finally it seems that Bucky can take a non-shaky breath. Eventually the boy is able to open his eyes which causes both fathers to coo at the sight.

“You feeling better, Bucky Bear?” Phil whispers as he interlocks their fingers while rubbing his other hand across the boy’s belly.

“M-m’sorry,” the boy mumbles as he turns his body so his head is back in Phil’s chest.

“Baby, it’s alright, we told you it’s alright,” Clint coos.

“B-but I’m 14! That’s not alright! This never happens to Steve, and-and it never happened to Thor,” Bucky whines.

“But you’re not Steve or Thor, are you? You’re James Buchanan. You’re our Bucky. You went through things that Steve and Thor didn’t go through, and sometimes those things still scare you. And sometimes they scare you a lot,” Phil coos. “Was it the really bad nightmare?”

Bucky nods his head as he takes a shuttery breath.

“Do you think you’re ready to talk about that?”

The way Bucky hesitates makes Clint and Phil hold their breath that the boy may finally open himself up completely, however, they aren’t shocked to be met by the shake of a head.

“N-not today,” Bucky mumbles. “B-b-but-but maybe this week when I-I see Dr. Garcia? You can st-stay? In the r-r-room?”

“If that’s what you want, love, then that’s what we’ll do.” 


	13. Chapter 13

After a couple additional hours of sleep everyone in the house is once again awake, though, this time to less dramatic events. Sam and Steve are intensely playing video games. Tony is giggling away in the kitchen with Phil as the two make pancakes. Thor and Heim– who apparently fell asleep on their couch last night– are running football routes in the front yard. But Bucky is still silent, perched at one of the dining table chairs in the kitchen as he leans his head into Clint’s chest.

“Bucky, baby, I know you’re upset, but it’s okay. Everything is okay, and no one’s upset with you,” Clint coos as he had been doing for the past hour since the boy woke up once again.

“I-I made Tony lie for me,” the boy cries.

“You didn’t make him do anything, hun, he was just being a good brother. He saw that you were embarrassed and wanted to help.”

“But I’m the bi-big brother.”

“Not being bigger or older doesn’t mean you can’t help; you out of everyone should know that, with how much you’ve helped Steve and Thor.”

“What if Stevie finds out the truth?”

“Then he finds out. He’ll still love you and be your big brother and nothing will change. Has he ever made fun of you before for this?”

Rather than replying though Bucky just sniffles as he shakes his head against Clint’s chest. 

The two remain quiet aside from a few hushed whispers of Clint cooing to the boy until Phil is calling out that breakfast is ready. Thor and Heim are the first ones to run into the kitchen to grab a seat at the table. While food is the first thing on the boy’s mind, he can’t help but look over at his dad and little brother in concern at the way Bucky is practically curling his body into himself. Gently he rubs a hand up and down the boy’s back, receiving a small flinch before his body relaxes again, while casting his father a concerned expression.

Clint doesn’t say anything but his facial expression shows that they’ll talk about it later. Sam and Steve are next to run in, but they don’t hesitate like Thor did mainly, though, because Bucky had mentioned something about not feeling his best earlier. Once everyone is seated, Phil carries over a tray of food as well as Tony before settling both down.

“Before you animals attack, allow us to grab food first, thank you,” Clint states as he slaps Thor’s hand away from the plate.

Quickly Clint fills a plate for himself as well as one for Bucky while Phil fills one for him and Tony. Once they have their fixings, though, a war breaks out between the older four as they all fight for the best piece of bacon or pancake. Luckily Clint is able to get Bucky to eat the food without much coaxing– though he credits that to Bucky not wanting to be embarrassed if Clint attempted to feed him.

Breakfast finishes without any dramatics taking place. Halfway through Thor plucked Tony from Phil’s lap to which the remainder of their time at the table was filled with stifled giggles leaving the child’s lips as Heim and Thor alternated sharing jokes with the boy. Eventually everyone wraps up eating, the table is cleared, and a mini Mario Kart tournament commences in the family room. Phil and Clint were happy to see Bucky join everyone, but they also know that they’ll probably continue to have an emotional teen for the remainder of the day.

“Do you think we should see if Dr. Garcia is available for a call today?” Clint wonders out loud as he begins to clean up the kitchen a bit.

“No I think he’ll be okay to wait until Tuesday, we may have to force a bit of daddy and papa time, but I think he’ll be okay. What do you think triggered this? He hasn’t had an accident like that since like, what, six months after joining the family?” Phil offers. 

“I mean as far as I know yeah; we took the mattress cover off for his thirteenth birthday. He’s been off since the football game, though. Maybe the crowds got to him? He’s still a fan of crowded, public spaces.”

“Maybe, I don’t know this seems bigger than just being shaken from crowds. He hasn’t had a cry like that in awhile.”

“Yeah you’re right and that was definitely about something bigger than just wetting the bed; I just hope that he opens up to Dr. Garcia about it sooner rather than later,” Clint sighed. “He called me daddy when I first went into their room. I haven’t heard that name in over a year.”

“I wouldn’t worry about that too much, I have a feeling Tony’s gonna be a right daddy’s boy.”

The husbands wrap up cleaning the kitchen while also discussing some case work they’re gonna have to do with Tony this week. Although Obadiah’s parental rights over Tony were terminated the first day he was in the hospital, they weren’t able to arrest him that day since he was out of the country. However, they’ve gotten word that he’s expected back in the states this week which means  _ this week _ the news of Tony Stark– heir of Stark Industries– being abused and removed from the custody of Obadiah Stane will drop and Obadiah will be arrested and charged with child abuse. 

Yeah it was gonna be a long week on  _ multiple _ levels.

* * *

Just before noon Sam is picked up by Natasha, leaving the Mario Kart tournament to just Bucky and Steve seeing as Thor, Tony, and Heim had all stopped playing a long time ago. Just as Phil and Clint were walking back into the family room to suggest a lazy family day they’re cut off by a loud– surprising– squeal leaving Tony’s lips.

“Do you think we can?! Really?!” The boy asks with wide, excited eyes as he sits on Thor’s lap, legs wrapped around the older boy’s torso preventing him from leaving his seat without Tony.

“I don’t think it hurts to ask,” Thor suggests while nodding his head towards Phil and Clint. Once Tony notices the older men back in the room his eyes remain wide in hope, though, he does lean forward to whisper something to Thor who simply chuckles. “You’re lucky you’re cute, you know? Alright I’ll ask for you: Dad, Papa, the new Lego Movie just came out and Tony wanted to see it, mind if we go?”

“Yeah and I’ll go with them to make sure Thor doesn’t take him to see a horror movie just in case,” Heim adds in, nudging Thor’s leg discreetly– though excited nonetheless.

“Hmm, just Tony wants to see it? You sure you’re not using him as an excuse to watch it in theaters without having people give you funny looks?” Clint chuckles as he lifts the little boy from Thor’s lap and onto his hip. “Whatcha think, babe? You more excited for the Lego Movie or is it Heim and Thor?” Clint asks the boy while lightly tickling his side. 

“H-Heim and Thor!” Tony squeals while trying to get away from the assaulting fingers. “But- but I wanna go, too? Please?”

“Course you can go, honey! I wouldn’t deprive you of Lego Movie action! Stevie, Bucky, either of you interested, or do you wanna stay home with me and Papa for a lazy day here?” Clint asks while turning to his middle children.

The two boys look at each other in silent conversation before deciding they’d rather stay at the house. From there Clint is quick to help Tony get changed while Phil set Thor up with some cash to buy the tickets, snacks, and even take Tony to get some lunch after the movie. The fathers made sure Tony knew to listen to Thor and Heim the entire time he was out, but soon enough the three were off leaving the fathers alone with their double duo.

“So what are we feeling? Movie? Board game? Pool time?” Phil asks while settling between the two boys, pulling both into his side for a cuddle.

“I could swim,” Steve says while looking over his father to look at Bucky. “Are you feeling better?”

“Enough, yeah,” Bucky mumbles while trying to hide his blush. “I could swim, too.”

“Alright go on and get changed then! I’ll go start up the grill so we can have some burgers, too, for lunch,” Clint says while ruffling up the boys’ hairs before they run up the stairs to get changed.

Soon enough the BBQ is heating up and everyone is set in their bathing suits ready to just have a nice, lazy pool day. Although Bucky’s arm is waterproof, Phil and Clint don’t like him wearing it in the pool unless he fully insists. Luckily, he tends to only insist when he’s at pool parties or has friends over– Sam included most times– and when it’s just family he’s more willing to comply with his parents request. So now the two brothers are jokingly shoving each other around in the pool as they wrestle for the water football while Phil and Clint look on in admiration.

“Told you he’d be fine,” Phil says while wrapping his arms around his husband’s waist as he flips one of the burgers.

“I know I just worry, especially when it comes to Bucky. He’s extremely good at hiding things from just about everyone, and with everything that’s been going on from getting Tony to his seizures I’m just worried we missed something big that happened,” Clint sighs before turning into his husband’s embrace.

“I know what you mean, Tony may seem like our most difficult kid emotionally right now, but I think it’s clear that he won’t be for long. He’s so little and trusting, I bet if we play our cards right by the time he’s a teenager we’ll have him so trusting of us he’d rat himself out the first time he tries alcohol or drugs!” Phil chuckles which causes Clint to send a light punch to the pains stomach as he mumble  _ I’m serious _ into his chest. 

“I know, babe, I’m serious too. I do get it, though. We’ve been pretty consumed with settling Tony in and all his new medical discoveries that it’d be pretty easy for any of our boys to do something that may fall through the cracks. But  _ especially _ our Bear. We could start having our own check-ins with the boys? Like maybe try to do at a minimum a weekly check in where we get to talk to them, just us and them?”

“Yeah, yeah I like that,” Clint says as he turns back to the grill. “I want to go back to doing our breathing sessions with Bucky more, too. I think he’ll settle for doing it once a week even though I wish we could do it more.”

“We’ll talk to him about it later, alright? Let’s just have a nice relaxing day with our boys.”

To which Phil then surprised the boys by jumping into the pool and winning the football away from the both of them.

* * *

The boys swam for a while longer before being forced out to eat some lunch, but soon enough they were back in the pool. To Phil’s pleasure, though, they weren’t rough housing just lounging on the floats on the verge of sleep in seemed from the fathers’ view on the patio couches.

“What was up with you this morning?” Steve mumbled to the boy as he lolled his head to the side to look at his brother a bit more directly.

“Whatcha mean?” Bucky mumbles back as he looks at his brother.

“Said you didn’t feel well, but you looked more upset than anything else. And you slept with dad and pops after we all woke up instead of in like Thor’s room or something.”

Bucky is quick to go stiff and quiet as Steve finishes talking which Steve is quick to pick up on. He waits a couple of minutes for Bucky to say something but when his brother remains quiet he decides to take matters into his own hands. Gently, so as to not completely disturb the water, Steve slides after his pool float and drags Bucky’s over to the stairs which finally elicits a response from the boy.

“What are you doing, Stevie?” Bucky asks annoyed as he turns his head away again.

“Budge over, the floats big enough for both of us,” Steve replies as he nudges his brother’s legs.

It took a bit of effort, but finally Steve got Bucky to budge over and he’s quick to join him on the raft, both boys laying on their stomachs, arms folded underneath their head.

“What’s wrong?” Steve asks again, though, this time quieter, closer, and Bucky even manages to look at him.

“S’nothing, Stevie,” Bucky mumbles but he doesn’t turn his head away as much as he’d like to.

“S’not nothing if you were crying about it this morning,” Steve offers back as he nudges his brother’s arm. “C’mon talk to me. You can tell me anything, always. M’your brother.”

Bucky sighs as he forces himself to let tears form in his eyes. Eventually, though, he opens his eyes again and looks towards his brother.

“Tony wears pull-ups to bed,” Bucky says, hoping that Steve can put two thoughts together for once to realize what he meant.

“And that makes you upset? What? Bucky that-”

_ Point missed _ Bucky thinks as he sighs in annoyance.

“No, Tony wears pull-ups to bed which means he doesn’t wet the bed.”

“Yeah I mean that makes sense, helps dad and pops not have to change the sheets so many times. I guess I should have figured he’d wear them since I’ve seen him have an accident before, but then why didn’t he have one on last- oh.”

It’s like Bucky literally watched the lightbulb in Steve’s head turn on.

“Yeah, oh.”

“Well, if Tony didn’t wet the bed, who did? Do you think it was Sam?”   
“Jesus, Steve, no! It was me, okay?! That’s why I went to sleep with dad and papa, that’s why I didn’t hang out with you guys in the morning,” Bucky huffs as he finally turns away from his brother, new tears forming in his eyes.

“Oh,” Steve says as he lifts himself so he’s propped up by his elbow. “Well, I mean that’s okay, you know that right? Like, I mean, it happens.”

“What?! No it doesn’t! It doesn’t just _ happen _ , Steve! It’s never happened to you or Thor or Sam based on your confusion from a minute ago. It doesn’t just happen!”

“Is that what this is about? You think I’m gonna make fun of you? Bucky, c’mon we tease each other and mess around but not with this stuff.  _ Never _ with this stuff. Sure I haven’t wet the bed in a while but doesn’t mean it  _ can’t _ happen. Pretty sure Thor wet himself first time he got real drunk even though he’d deny it. And well, I don’t know about Sam but like it’s also not impossible.”

“But- but Tony lied for me and I got everyone all gross and I’m 14 and-”

“Bucky, shut up, alright? If you think I’m gonna laugh, make fun of you, and tell the whole school Monday you’re highly mistaken. _You_ are my brother, okay? I know you’ve been through tough shit, some stuff you’re clearly not ready to talk about yet, and that’s okay. I get that, this whole house gets that really. But because you’re not ready to talk about it, you gotta be prepared that your body may choose how you react to it. But regardless of that you’re _my_ brother and when it comes to things like _this_ I would _never_ make fun of you. And I know the same goes for Thor and Tony.”

“You really don’t think I’m, like, gross? Or a complete baby?” Bucky asks as he turns to fully look Steve in the eye.

“You shower like twice a day, you’re definitely not gross. And sorry to tell you this but Tony took over as baby brother,” Steve smirks while punching the boy’s shoulder. “You’re still my little brother though.”

The boys stay floating for a bit longer before they both decide to get out. Clint passes out towels before suggesting some lay down time since it seems everyone still a bit tired from the abrupt wake up that morning. Steve is quick to agree before making his way to the family room to fall asleep to some Netflix on the couch where Phil was already passed out, however, Bucky stays outside with Clint.

“Dad?” Bucky mumbles as he looks down at the floor while scuffing his feet across the wood porch. “I know papa is sleeping, b-but can we do the- the daddy and papa time stuff just us two? Out here?”

Clint can’t hold the coo back as he looks at his little boy before gently grabbing ahold of the boy’s hand and guiding him down onto the couch against his chest.

“Of course we can, baby. I’m really proud of you for asking, that’s a really big step for you,” Clint says as he kisses the boy’s forehead.

Clint helps guide the boy through a series of breathing exercises while massaging out some of the stress kinks in his neck and shoulders for the next ten minutes. By the time they’re done Clint can see a visible change in Bucky’s demeanor, making him look more like the usual Bucky rather than the one that was present that morning. He can’t help but coo again as he brushes the boy’s hair back to kiss his forehead once more.

“How we feeling, huh?”

“Lot better, doesn’t feel tight anymore,” Bucky mumbles as he shuffles to lay himself down, Clint following suit before turning the boy into him so they’re chest to chest. “I told Stevie. ‘Bout this morning.”

“Hmm, that’s why you two got so serious. And? Final outcome? Did he decide you can’t be his brother anymore?” Clint hums while poking the boy in the side of the stomach.

“Dad,” Bucky whines while swatting the hand away. “Said what you said he’d say, not a big deal. S’just- it- I don’t know it  _ feels  _ like a big deal.”

“I know, honey, but that’s your anxiety speaking. Remember sometimes your anxiety makes little things feel  _ really _ big even when we logically know that they’re not. I know you don’t like your medication and I don’t want you to take something you don’t like, but I think for right now– while your anxiety is bit higher than normal– we should go back to doing daddy and papa time more frequently. It doesn’t have to be every day like it used to, but maybe once a week plus whenever else you feel you need it?”

Bucky sighs as he nuzzles his head further into his dad’s chest but regardless eventually nods his head.

“Yeah that sounds fair, but can we not openly call it daddy and papa time?”

“I think we can find another name for it, alright? Now, c’mon I know you’re still tired, so lets take a small nap before Tony and Thor get home and tell us all about Legos.”

Bucky chuckles as he feels Clint pull him in tighter, really allowing him to feel the reassurance he practically craves for every day.

“Yeah,” Bucky yawns. “I love you, daddy.”

“I love you, too, BuckyBear,” Clint coos as he watches his son fall asleep against his chest. “Definitely got two daddy’s boys in this family.”


End file.
